Foreign Intervention
by Bounemr
Summary: Carter Wroden hears a disturbing rumor about certain events going on across the Atlantic. Not about Hawk Moth or the Miraculous he's abusing to his nefarious ends, but about Ladybug and Chat Noir, who he hears are only 14 years old. So, Carter and his partner catch the next flight to Paris to offer their aid to the young heroes, in any way they can.
1. The Modern Guardian

Carter thinks of himself as a reasonable person. He's the kind of guy that thinks before he leaps. The grounded, stable type that people feel comfortable talking to. Reserved, maybe, but friendly and level-headed. He's certainly not the type of guy who would invite himself and his boyfriend along onto said boyfriend's ex's honeymoon.

That's why that's absolutely not what's happening here.

"That is absolutely what's happening here!"

Carter groans and cover his face. "Avery, come on. You saw those videos. We have to do something!"

Avery snickers. "Of course. But hitching a ride with the lovebirds is not your best plan. The last thing Rhys needs on his honeymoon is Morgan trying to get you to join in."

"First of all, he'd try to get you to join, not me."

Avery is quick to correct him. "He'd ask both of us."

Carter has to fight off the flushing of his cheeks as he charges forward with his lecture. "Second, Morgan wouldn't do that – Rhys already said the honeymoon is just for them, so he won't ask at least until they get back. And third, he asked us once, okay? It's not a thing."

"He asked _you _once. But he did ask you."

"That's not the point! Anyway, we wouldn't be 'tagging along' on their honeymoon. They're only staying in Paris for a few days – we're not stopping them from the rest of their trip – and we don't even have to hang out while we're all in Paris, anyway. We're just mooching off all the work already done to organize the thing. We can't just ignore everything happening because it'd be awkward to go to Paris while they are there on their honeymoon."

"Of course, not." Avery rolls his eyes. "Have you tried calling the kids there, though? We should start by reaching out to them, not just showing up in their city to mother them."

Carter grumbles a little as he rifles through his drawers for an extra pair of pants. "I can't. I can't get connected to the kids and the guardian keeps blocking me."

Avery frowns at that and moves to hand Carter another shirt. Carter eyes it curiously for a moment – he has enough shirts already packed – and realizes it's Avery's favorite. _Oh, right. City of love. Good call._ "Arrel can't contact their kwami? I thought you'd figured that out ages ago."

"Not exactly." Carter admits. "We can call the guardian because Arrel is related to his kwami, but the kwami of creation and destruction are too unrelated." After a moment of thought, Carter snickers. "You might be able to call Hawk Moth. Not that that'd actually help us."

Avery hums. "I'll keep it in mind. No connection to the kids, though?"

"Nope. I guess you could ask Iinar. Its powers are stupid, so who knows if it could or not?"

"I will. But why would the guardian block you?"

"Too scared to face the consequences of using the Miraculous to make child soldiers, maybe? He's right to be afraid of me."

Avery chuckles. "You're cute when you're mad. I still think we should try to contact the kids first, though."

"You're literally helping me pack."

"Still."

Carter sighs, shuts his suitcase, and cups Avery's face in his hands. "Compromise?" He asks softly, touching their heads together. "Ladybug favors that one blog – The Ladyblog – I think it's our best chance to contact them if our Miraculous can't reach them, so we can send a message there on our way."

"That blogger is a kid, too, you know. She can't be our contact in the city."

"We've got Dakota's cousin. And we don't want to bother them, but Morgan and Rhys will be there."

"Morgan and Rhys don't know the city. Julian is good, but we're going to have to find the guardian eventually."

Carter hums softly. "I can try to track him once we're closer. Keep in mind you have the same connection with Hawk Moth that I have with the guardian. If I can find him, then Hawk Moth can find you."

"Hawk Moth is a coward. He'll undoubtedly try to akumatize me, but I doubt I have any more to fear from him. Still, Mia's charm should give us the advantage if he tries. That'll work on Hawk Moth's powers, right?"

"Should work." Carter says. "So, we'll message the Ladyblog and call Julian. Then we get ready to go?"

Carter can feel the movement of Avery's head, gently shaking but still pressed against his own. "Alright. You call Julian; I'll message the Ladyblog after I double-check with Iinar that we can't contact the kids directly. Do you have a plan for what we'll do when we get there?"

Carter grins and kisses Avery quickly before finally releasing him and returning to his bags. "Find the guardian, rip him a new one, then offer our help to the kids. Maybe you can track down Hawk Moth and we'll get the whole thing solved. Then we'll have to teach those kids what being a keeper really means."

"In and out." Avery says drily. "Hotel?"

"That apartment Rhys was looking at before. Got connections to the Hales, so Mia might be able to pull some strings for us."

"If not?"

"Still better to support the community. We know the landlady there is one of us, and it's a good location."

"Point taken. Mia know you're using her connections?"

"I may have been organizing things a bit." Carter snickers. "I'll call her and finalize everything now. With Julian and Dakota, too."

"And you haven't been slacking on French lessons?"

"As soon as I found out there were French keepers, I doubled them." Carter chuckles. "I doubt we'll have much trouble, and Arrel and Iinar both know French, too."

"Good." Avery sighs and rolls his eyes. "You know, I always thought Morgan would crash our honeymoon. Not the other way around."

"Oh, he's definitely going to crash our honeymoon. Especially after this." Carter laughs. "Maybe Shiloh, too. You decided yet whether you're okay with that or not?"

"Uh, no. Seems a little inappropriate, but I suppose we need to know what we're doing before we know whether he's allowed along or not."

"Point taken. You think Annie would trap him here for us if we ask nicely?"

Avery scoffs. "You think we need to ask?"

* * *

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Durain." Carter says as Avery slips by him into the apartment that has just been opened for them. "I know this was a little late notice."

"Oh, don't you worry about a thing." Mrs. Durain chuckles. "I heard from my son that some friends of the twins were thinking of coming soon. I had everything ready before you even called. And if you can do anything to help bring down Hawk Moth, it's my honor to help you out."

"We will certainly do our best." Carter answers, smiling. "I just hope Ladybug and Chat Noir got the message that we were coming."

"I'm sure they did. But go on in! Make yourself comfortable. And if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

Carter grins at her. "Yes, Ma'am. Thanks again for this."

Mrs. Durain leaves them alone to get settled in, and Carter and Avery take their time doing so. Ideally, they shouldn't be here long, but they both doubt finding Hawk Moth will be so easy as that. Besides, even if they do get things sorted quickly, they're in Paris! They're going to stay for at least a couple weeks. As a vacation, if not a mission.

"It's getting late." Avery says, glancing out the large window. "First contact?"

"Naw." Carter joins him, looking out at the city. "They don't patrol, so unless we want to grab everyone's attention, going out is pointless."

"Do we not want to grab everyone's attention?"

"Not right away. Until we know what Ladybug wants us doing in this fight and we have a better idea of how much you can feel about what Hawk Moth is doing, it's best not to draw too much attention."

Avery worries his lip and hums. "So, how are we going to contact them, then? Through the Ladyblog girl?"

"I was going to say catch them after an akuma, but that's a good idea. Don't have to wait for an attack that way. In the meantime, we should talk to Julian and get oriented here, and then find the guardian."

"Cool. Iinar?"

The little brown kwami yawns exaggeratedly as it floats up to eye level. "What's up?"

"How dangerous would it be for you to go looking for Hawk Moth?"

"Depends how good Hawk Moth is." Iinar says, grinning. "I'm in. You go find the turtle. I'll be back in a couple hours, probably."

"Hey, wait, are you sure that's a goo- and it's gone." Carter sighs. "Arrel, is it going to get itself in trouble?"

The white kwami appears, giggling. "Oh, most assuredly. But I seriously doubt it's in any danger. Remember, its powers make it uniquely resistant to capture and control, and Hawk Moth doesn't have it's Miraculous, either way. The worst that can happen is Iinar clues Hawk Moth off to us being here, but we should probably assume that, anyway, given their connection. I wouldn't worry about it. It's actually a good plan. Troublesome as it is, Iinar will stay hidden at least, so it should be fine."

"Iinar can handle itself." Avery assures him. "It knows more about how Hawk Moth's powers work than any of us. And it's not stupid. It wouldn't go if it wasn't confident it won't get hurt." Carter frowns, searching the skyline in the direction Iinar left. "Hey." He feels Avery's hand on his shoulder, and then arms wrap around him. "You should trust in it by now. How long have we been doing this? You don't need to worry so much."

Carter sighs, letting himself melt into the touch. "You're right. It just… seems like yesterday, you know?" He tilts his head to mostly face Avery despite their position. "We just woke it up, you didn't know anything about the Miraculous or magic, we found out Arrel and Iinar hate each other."

"We get along, now!" Arrel protests.

Avery snickers. "Hardly. But, yeah, I get it. Iinar and I are still the babies to you, huh?"

"Hm, well, I wouldn't say that." Carter grins reaching up to cup Avery's cheek and steal a kiss. "But I was effectively your teacher for a long time there. I'm always going to feel a little responsible for you."

"Our mentor would be offended." Avery murmurs, nuzzling back into him.

Carter rolls his eyes. "Okay, yeah, not your teacher, but like… an upperclassman, I guess. Making sure the little freshie doesn't get lost and hurt himself, you know? Our mentor trusted me to look after you. I still take that seriously, even though I know you can handle yourself now. Iinar, too."

Avery chuckles. "I appreciate that. I just wish you didn't feel the need to worry all the time. I know it's dangerous in Paris, especially for me. But I know better than to underestimate Hawk Moth. And I know what I'm capable of. You know I'm not going to overextend if it might put me in danger."

"Aha. Yeah. I know. You always were the more careful one."

"Says the keeper of patience."

"Patience, _Bärchen_, not carefulness." Carter says. "But speaking of. We shouldn't keep the guardian waiting. I'm sure he knows we're in town. With how I've been reaching out to sense him, there's no way he's missed it. Arrel?"

As Avery releases Carter from his hug, Arrel titters nervously in the air. "Not the guardian, but his kwami is responding to me. I can lead you to him, but if it's Wayzz instead of him, it's up in the air whether he'll be expecting us."

"If he isn't expecting us," Avery says, "then he's an idiot. Or overconfident. Not that that's any better."

Carter clicks his tongue. "There is the chance that Mia's charms are hiding me as well. I've been actively reaching out, so he should know we're here, but it's possible that's been blocked."

"We both know that's not how they work." Avery says. "Arrel, lead the way. We should get this over with."

"Of course." Arrel says happily. "Perhaps we should look at a map first. I can probably estimate a location so that we at least have some idea of what we're walking through."

"Good idea." Avery takes out his phone and shows it to Arrel as the three of them make their way back to the door.

Carter decides that those two are more than capable of handling the directions. Evening is just setting in, but the city is beautiful even in the twilight. He takes advantage of it to hold Avery's hand and examine their surroundings while Avery himself mutters with Arrel in his shirt and his phone in his free hand. Carter hardly bothers paying attention to the exact direction, instead just trusting Avery's pull on his hand to lead him the right way.

Soon enough, Arrel and Avery have them at their destination. A small massage parlor. Nothing extraordinary. "Ready?" Avery asks.

"Whenever you are." Carter says.

"I'll unlock it." Arrel says. He quickly slips through the door, and then Carter hears a satisfying click.

Carter takes the lead, opening the door and stepping through first. It's hardly either of their first time breaking into a home, nor a business, but though they aren't expecting trouble it's never a good idea to let their guards down when they're in the middle of breaking the law.

They enter a larger room, off the entranceway, that looks like it's probably used for clients. Two cushions around a short tea table sit in the center, slightly askew as if it's not a permanent position for the furniture. Arrel immediately takes interest in the old gramophone near the wall. Avery likewise zeroes in on the thing. Carter wouldn't ordinarily give it a second glance, but Avery can see the world much differently than Carter does, and Arrel is much more attuned to magic. Carter knows better than to dismiss something that catches their attention. Especially if it's both of them.

"_Bärchen_?" Carter whispers.

Avery squints a little at the gramophone, and then turns to Arrel, hissing, "Is that the box?"

"No doubt." Arrel replies, voice tinged with wonder.

That explains it. The gramophone hides the Miracle Box that the guardian here is in charge of. The only box remaining – or the only formal one, anyway. Carter's collection and the one in Brazil are just gatherings of the Miraculous they've managed to find or recover since the temple burned. They aren't put together in any meaningful way like the records say the Miracle Boxes are supposed to be.

Carter admittedly doesn't know enough about what way the collections in each box were meaningful, or even if it was at all beyond pseudo-religious spiritual nonsense, so the idea of being in the presence of the box isn't exactly world-making for him. A glance at Avery's expression tells him he's of a similar mind. Still, this moment clearly means something to Arrel, so Carter decides to stay quiet.

"I'm going inside." Arrel announces suddenly. "You two go on and find the guardian."

"You sure about that?" Carter asks softly. "Do you know what going in there will be like?"

Arrel hesitates. "No. I've never been in a Miracle Box before. But I should announce myself to the kwami resting here. It's just… manners." His gaze shifts nervously for a moment between Carter and the gramophone. "I'll ask what they know, too, so I might be in there a while. Don't wait for me, alright?"

"Sure thing. Be careful."

"You too."

Arrel exchanges a look with Avery, and then zips into the horn of the gramophone, leaving Carter and Avery alone.

Together, the two silently pad through the place, exploring each room until they hear clinking and muttering. Carter meets Avery's eyes and nods, and they turn towards the source of the noise.

"-ning out of possibilities. What else could it mean?"

The voice carries through the door. Carter has his hand on the handle and looks to Avery to double-check that he's ready. Once he gets a nod, he opens the door.

The shocked cry that the little old man on the other side of the door lets out doesn't exactly take Carter by surprise. The vial that he unceremoniously chucks into the air does, though. Just a bit. Avery manages to catch it just in time – lucky that the man accidentally threw it in their direction – and miraculously, very little of the liquid contents inside spilled out in the endeavor.

"Who are you?" The old man gasps. "We are closed. Please leave my home."

Carter exchanges another look with Avery and steps forward. With a polite bow and a pleasant smile, Carter says, "Guardian of the Miracle box, our meeting is long overdue. I am the keeper of patience, whose kwami is progeny of the turtle kwami of the Miracle box. With me is the keeper of liminality. Please accept my apologies that our kwami are currently indisposed. And for our dropping in unannounced. I did _try_ to contact you."

"Ah." The old man sighs wearily. "So, you came after all."

"With all due respect, sir, did you really expect us to ignore what you're doing here?"

"I had hoped… come, please. And, you, young man, could you please place that on the counter there?" Carter and Avery join the man deeper into the room, the kitchen, where Avery puts the vial he caught on a stand. "Thank you."

Carter narrows his eyes at the items out on the counter. The guardian isn't cooking dinner, that's for sure. This is alchemy. If Carter didn't know any better, he might even think it a spell. Unfortunately, the only clue as to what exactly the goal of this concoction is, is the tablet laid out nearby, but the writing in the picture on it is in the old guardian language used at the temple. It'd take much more careful examination for Carter to translate that. He can't help but wonder what on earth a guardian would need alchemy for.

"You two should not have come here." The guardian says. "Especially you." He glances at Avery. "We do not need to give Hawk Moth more opportunity than he already has."

"We're well aware of the situation here." Carter says. "Ordinarily, we would stay out of it, but you decided to make two children keepers and send them off to fight to recover your missing Miraculous." There's a definite bite in his voice, but Carter knows that getting truly angry while here is dangerous. He takes just a moment to school himself and ensure he can say what he needs to without risk of drawing Hawk Moth's attention. "How old are they?" Carter asks.

The guardian ducks his head. Shame is tangible, yet still he seems to feel the need not to admit his wrongdoing, but to defend himself. "They were the only options. No one else could wield the Miraculous like they do."

"I don't care about affinity." Carter hisses. "You dragged two kids into battle! An unattuned keeper is a vastly better option!"

"The ladybug and the black cat must be in balance." The guardian counters. "They were the only choice for this fight."

"There's never only one choice."

"I am aware that they are suffering for my mistakes." The guardian sighs. "I wish I could fight myself, but I am just too old."

"And senile. Tell me how old they are."

"I cannot. Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities must remain secret."

Carter lets out a frustrated growl before Avery's hand on his arm still him. "Fine." Carter huffs. "Then I'll tell you. They're fourteen. Were thirteen, when this started." The guardian recoils in shock. "You, realizing that you're too old to fight, decided your next best option was to enlist two _thirteen-year-old soldiers_ to fight your battle for you. Do they even know the keeper's traditional role? Do they even know about the magical community at all?"

"They cannot afford to be distracted. The fight with Hawk Mo-"

"_Your_ fight, that _you_ dragged them into! You call yourself guardian after the order was destroyed, you use the Miraculous to create child soldiers to get you more Miraculous, and you deprive those same kids of the community that might actually be able to support them? Do you have any idea how this looks? I should take the box from you right now! You're clearly either too irresponsible for it or an active threat to us."

"You do not understand. Hawk Moth wants the ladybug and black cat Miraculous to make a wish. The consequences of any wish would be catastrophic."

"And your solution is to give the exact Miraculous being targeted to thirteen-year-old kids and sending them to directly confront this guy?!" Carter groans. "So, fine, you're not irresponsible. Just stupid."

"It was to minimize damage." The guardian explains. "Ladybug can repair all the damage done by Hawk Moth's powers. To protect the city, it was necessary to give her the Miraculous. To maintain balance, the black cat also had to find a user."

"And is that supposed to excuse this?"

"No… not excuse. Just explain." He sighs. "The ladybug and black cat are exceptionally powerful. Fewer mistakes can be made with their users than with other Miraculous. Ladybug and Chat Noir are the best matches I could find."

"Hm." Carter shakes his head. "No matter your reasoning, what you did was evil. You do understand that, right?"

The guardian does not answer. He just stays quiet, head bowed, until, after a long while, Avery asks, "What are you making?"

Like he just hit a reset switch, the guardian perks up again. Probably just using the distraction to ignore his mistakes. Still, it's a good question, and Carter is eager to hear the answer. "When fed with a specific blend of ingredients, the kwami can grant special power. The recipes are written in the grimoire there, but it is encoded. I am trying to decipher the ingredients."

"Alchemy can grant powers to the kwami?" Carter murmurs. "Interesting. And you found a surviving book, too? May I see that?" The guardian seems surprised, but hands Carter the tablet. Carter frowns at the pictures as he scans through them. "Grimoire." He mutters. "These are combat enhancements." It takes him a while to truly translate the thing, since the grammar is a bit strange, but Carter gleans enough from the pictures and nouns alone to recognize what's going on.

The part of him that loves history is ecstatic to have found this, but the other part, the part more rooted in the now, wishes this particular book had burned with the temple. As he keeps scrolling through the images, it becomes increasingly clear that warfare is largely what this whole grimoire is dedicated to. That's… disappointing. Deeply, painfully so.

Combat magic can be useful. Carter himself has taken advantage of many spells and enchantments throughout his time as keeper that were originally designed for war. And, though not a spellcaster himself, Carter has done his fair share of fighting, too. But this grimoire is an instruction manual on the Miraculous' capabilities in war. As far as Carter is concerned, there should be nothing written in it at all.

Still, this grimoire is a fascinating piece of Miraculous history, and it's Carter's responsibility as a keeper to learn all that he can and preserve all knowledge, even the distasteful parts. It would be a tyrannical overreach of his position to censor this. But left in the hands of this guardian? Someone who has already abused the power of the Miraculous in such a heinous way? That's not just disquieting. That's dangerous.

Carter looks over to Avery, knowing that Avery can read the situation well enough to give informed feedback, and gets a subtle shake of his head. Carter sighs. As much as he hates to admit it, Avery is right. Heinous or not, the guardian is at least well-intentioned. And, the fact of the matter is that these spells and recipes can help Ladybug and Chat Noir in the fight.

One way or another, Ladybug and Chat Noir are already involved. Even coming to Paris, Carter never had any intention of removing them from the fight entirely. Truthfully, he doesn't believe either of those kids will step down when he gives them the option, and he's not about to disrespect them and all that they've already done by forcing them out of the fight. He's here to offer his help, and this grimoire can help even more.

He might have something to say about what happens to it once this is all over, though. But that's a bridge to cross when he gets to it.

Begrudgingly, Carter returns the tablet to the guardian, only requesting those photos be sent to him. It takes some convincing, and the guardian is insistent that the kwami themselves never learn the contents of the grimoire (a stipulation that Carter is already aware of. Carter is far less stingy with information he finds than the guardian order of old was, but he and Arrel agreed a long time ago that magic of this nature, combat enhancements and battle magic, will be safer without Arrel clued into the details), but Carter does manage to negotiate himself a copy of the book.

Good thing, too, since considering the circumstances Carter isn't sure he's above just taking the thing. Maybe the guardian is picking up on that sentiment.

Eventually, though, Carter announces his intentions to the guardian. "I'm going to offer Ladybug and Chat Noir my support." He says firmly. "I will give them the option to stop fighting, and I will ensure that they have someplace to turn when they get overwhelmed. They will remain keepers, unless they choose to reject that responsibility, regardless of whether they fight or not, and I will teach them everything I know about the Miraculous, as is my duty as senior keeper." The guardian tries to protest, but Carter cuts him off. "I'm not asking your permission. I am stating my intentions out of respect for your order, but I do not adhere to your rules or your teachings. This is also your only warning. If you continue in this reckless, idiotic direction, I will confiscate the Miracle Box. This is your last chance. Do be careful with it."

"You do not understand the consequences of misusing the Miraculous." The guardian pleads. "There was no other choice."

"Yes." Carter growls. "There was. And this isn't an argument. This is an ultimatum. One more mistake and we will take action against you. You should know better, so be glad you're getting even this."

With little else to say, Carter and Avery leave the guardian alone.


	2. First Encounter

Alya Césaire of the Ladyblog is eager to get in contact with Avery. It's no surprise, really, with the photos Avery attached to his initial message to her. Carter almost wishes he could have seen her face when she opened that submission.

In truth, he half-expected that she'd completely brush them off. After all, she surely can't bother Ladybug and Chat Noir over every fan letter asking her to. That's why he and Avery agreed to send photos of them transformed, as proof of, if not their own Miraculous, knowledge about Miraculous outside Paris. That alone warrants looking into further for a blog like Alya's.

But she's more than willing to talk to them. And though Carter wants to get things moving, he also knows the value of patience. It's his idea to take things a bit more slowly. There's no need to go over everything multiple times, after all, and they really only need Alya to let Ladybug know they're here so that they don't take her off-guard. Avery gives her their phone numbers and asks her to organize a meeting with Ladybug as soon as she can manage to. They don't need to overplay and do any more than that.

They also need to figure out who exactly Hawk Moth is, and it'd help to know who Ladybug and Chat Noir are, too, but Carter doubts Alya will help them much with that. No, for that, he turns to Julian. The magical community is tight-knit, organized, and accustomed to secrecy and operating underground. At least, it is in Carter's hometown. It was someone Julian knows and trusts that confirmed that Ladybug and Chat Noir were thirteen at their start.

Julian, like his cousin Dakota back home, works as a bartender at a local place. Eclipse here in Paris is actually a night club later in the evening, though it's open during the day as a more standard pub, and even allows minors in. Most magic friendly places are also friendly to minors. It's a cover, so that if they have to take in magic kids for whatever reason, no one will question it. Places like the night club, or Dakota's bar back home, are excellent community centers if they're under the right management. Unlike his cousin, Julian doesn't own this bar, but if he's working there at all, it's a good sign for the place. Carter thinks it'll be a good place for the meeting.

It's also a good place to gather information. A bartender like Julian hears just about everything there is to hear without prying. One woman who overhears an innocuous conversation about a specific subject, a man who hears remnants of school drama, another who once saw something telling being carried by someone important. Anything and everything, and in Julian's hands all that information comes together into a picture much more concrete. Namely, the age and approximate location of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Carter learned from his experience with Dakota. Those people in charge of places where the community gathers – bartenders, librarians, and the like – are people it is in Carter's best interest to befriend quickly. Not just for the information they can give him, but for the reputation they have and the pull they have over the magical community as a whole in their area. Carter could not have come half as far as he had if he didn't have his mentor and Dakota's reputations backing him. The community may be tight-knit, but that also comes with the side effect of being difficult to integrate into. Outsiders are rarely trusted, and to the community in Paris, Carter and Avery are outsiders.

Luckily, they have connections. Dakota. The Hale twins. Johann. They all have connections in Paris, so that makes Carter's job a whole lot easier.

Carter doesn't expect immediate results, but he doubts no one in the community has tried to figure out who Ladybug and Chat Noir are yet. Once he and Avery get to Eclipse, the night club, they put out feelers and are satisfied with that and introducing themselves properly to some of the locals. Julian is listening for them, and now they have the grapevine letting everyone know that two keepers from America are looking for the heroes here in Paris.

That said, Eclipse, like the Cat's Cradle back home, is a were bar. Even among the magical community there are divides. Carter has a bit of a connection with the werebeasts, personally. They sort of adopted him after he got bit and almost turned by a werecat and he spent a week transfigured while his friends searched for a proper purging charm. Not that they don't like to adopt people who haven't directly faced the possibility of becoming a were, but when the were community at home welcomed him so kindly, even when the curse hadn't yet taken hold and they knew he was actively searching for a spell to purge it, he couldn't help but be taken in a bit by them.

Of course, that could just be southern hospitality, at least in part. But from what Carter can tell the weres here in Paris aren't so different. Despite that, though, the community is much larger than just the werebeasts, and the werebeasts' bestial natures lend to them being looked down upon by some sects of the community. The people Carter has met tonight will definitely spread word, but it would be wise for him to stop by some other places. Though, with luck, the Ladyblog will get him in contact with Ladybug directly and he can simply ask her herself.

Not that it's super important to know Ladybug and Chat Noir's secret identities. Carter mostly just wants to know because without that knowledge, he can't have a full picture of what those kids are dealing with. They need a support system, and his understanding is that they simply don't have anyone. Not even each other, really. The guardian certainly doesn't count, since no one can convince Carter he's in any way a positive support for either of them. If Ladybug will be willing to tell him herself, then that's for the best, but if he finds out behind the scenes, then he can cut through that ridiculousness with no fault laid at the kid's feet.

He'll have to apologize, of course, for invading their privacy, but he's not going to hide the fact that he's going to be looking if he meets them before he gets that information. No matter their protests. And he's certainly not digging any further into their lives without permission. He's only doing this much because the secret is in place because of that idiotic guardian in the first place and because it's inevitable if they want the community looking for information on Hawk Moth, too. Unless they have a very good reason for him to call off the search, something much better than worry over himself or Avery getting akumatized and revealing their identities to Hawk Moth, he's already decided that this is necessary.

With a heavy sigh, Carter wonders if he wouldn't be better off just calling Gabriella and using her powers. But that's definitely a gross overstep. Though, it would almost guarantee finding out who Hawk Moth is… but Carter can't do that. Using that Miraculous would be going way too far for the situation at hand. Plus, he really doesn't want to owe her another favor. And that's if she deigns to help him out at all.

Besides, knowing their identities isn't imperative. Not if they can reach out to the kids one way or another. Carter has quite a few avenues to take before he becomes that desperate.

So, after a night on the town, he and Avery return to the quiet of their apartment. The mission, as always, is at the forefront of their minds, and they spend a great deal of time whispering about where to go from here, but in the end, they feel they have everything put together.

An akuma attacks that very night, and not long after it ends Avery gets a message from Alya that the meeting has been set, and when the next evening comes, Carter and Avery are making their way towards the rendezvous point. Just outside Eclipse, in a hidden area where passersby won't see them.

Nearby, they exchange a look and call on the kwami to transform them. Around the corner, they find Alya alone waiting.

She immediately bursts into action. "It's true! New heroes!" She hold up her phone, possibly already recording them, eagerly asking, "Will you two spare some time for an interview? What should we call you? Are you here to help Ladybug and Chat Noir? How old are you?"

Carter chuckles lightly at her enthusiasm. "Perhaps another time." He answers her. "If Ladybug and Chat Noir are okay with it, you're free to record this meeting, so long as you promise to edit out certain things. Part of why we reached out to you is so that you could introduce us to Paris, since it seems like you're Ladybug's favored reporter. Maybe not right away, be warned, since no one knowing we're here means Hawk Moth might not either, but that's something Ladybug will decide." Alya positively glows under the praise and the scoop she's getting. "And I'm sure Ladybug will have most of the same questions you do. We should wait for her and Chat Noir to arrive before we get into it, yeah?"

"Of course!" Alya says. "They should be here any moment."

Right on cue, there's a thwip and a flash of scarlet and Ladybug lands gracefully a few feet away. Carter's breath immediately catches in his throat because he knew she was young but to actually see her… "Good god, she's tiny." He says unthinking. An elbow in the ribs from Avery shuts him up before he can say any more.

Sure, Carter is used to people being smaller than him. He's not stand-out big by any means – actually he's relatively average as far as adult men go – but he was an early bird with puberty, so he started sprouting before a large number of his peers. And sure, this girl is fourteen, and also a girl, so odds are she'd be small, but she's even tinier than Avery was back when they met! And Avery is still on the smaller side.

Despite her stature, though, when she speaks, she's calm, professional, and wary. Carter can respect that. "Alya tells me you're heroes from America? Did you come because you heard about the attacks here?"

"Yes and no." Carter answers. "Before I say anything, though, Miss Césaire? I trust you'll allow Ladybug to review all your footage and take out anything she likes, yeah? Unless Ladybug would rather you put that away altogether."

Ladybug glances over at Alya, who hastily agrees to let the heroine edit. She's not dumb, at least. Even a highly edited scoop is a scoop. And recording the heroes' first meeting is a dream come true, even if it only turns out she can use a small portion of the footage. "I trust her." Ladybug says.

"Very well then." Carter grins as Chat Noir arrives. "So, my answer. Yes and no. Firstly, we do not consider ourselves heroes. As keepers, we would more accurately be called historians. But yes, we are American. As for why we're here, if the situation were slightly different, we wouldn't have come all this way. As it is, the thing that we really came to address was the guardian." Ladybug's eyes fly open wide and her jaw drops to the floor. "We will, of course, update you on the specifics about that later. As for what's relevant to you directly, yes, we will lend you our aid. In whatever capacity you see fit." He bows politely and begins the formal introductions. "I am Carter Wroden, keeper of the polar bear Miraculous of patience. This is my partner."

Avery gives her a nod. "Avery Graham. Keeper of the otter Miraculous of liminality."

Carter is about to continue, but the three kids interrupt him by erupting into pure chaos. Above the yells from both Alya and Chat Noir, Ladybug's shriek is clear to hear. "You can't tell us that!"

Carter laughs quietly, sharing an amused look with Avery while he waits for the kids to calm down. "Understand," he says when he has their attention once more. "We don't operate the same way you do. Hiding our names would only be detrimental to our work. Besides, our names carry no weight in Paris. Our loved ones are all in America." Except for Morgan and Rhys, but they're set to leave Paris tomorrow, and it'd take much longer to make the connection between them even with all their names. "Hawk Moth has nothing to use against us, names or no. Not that we'd like them shared to all of Paris, of course, but you are the leader of this operation here, so it makes no sense to hide ourselves from you."

"So, we can reveal our identities! I've been telling you, bugaboo!"

"Don't call me bugaboo." Ladybug frowns, effectively brushing off the rest of Chat's statement in favor of examining Carter and Avery. "But I suppose it's too late to take it back now. You need cover names, though, if you're planning on sticking around."

"Polar Bear and Otter will work fine. It doesn't matter to us."

Ladybug sighs. "Okay. Polar Bear. I've never even heard of your Miraculous before. I didn't know there were any outside of Paris."

Carter nods. "The guardian didn't tell you." He shakes his head. "As of right now, I am aware of three Miraculous with keepers outside of Paris. Including my partner and myself. The last is the keeper of the owl Miraculous of knowledge. She's based i-"

"Wait." Ladybug holds a hand up to silence him. "We don't need to know any more about her. It's safest if we don't know anything that could lead Hawk Moth to her. Especially if her Miraculous is what it sounds like."

Carter smirks. Ladybug is a clever girl, that's for sure. Gabriella would like her. "If you say so. But though we are the only known keepers outside of Paris, there are still even more surviving Miraculous. I myself have a collection – not with me, of course – and the keeper of knowledge has her own. You could say we're sort of like guardians, but we don't follow the old teachings, so it's not exactly accurate."

Ladybug looks a bit overwhelmed at the thought, so Carter decides to slow down and let her process everything so far. But Alya has no such reservations, nor does Chat, and they start firing off questions non-stop.

"What other Miraculous do you have?"

"How old are you? What're your powers?"

"What's the other hero's powers? Can they tell us who Hawk Moth is?"

"What do you do with the Miraculous if you don't have a villain like Hawk Moth?"

"Do you have a villain like Hawk Moth? Did you beat him?"

"What's a guardian? Why didn't we know one was in Paris?"

"Kids, kids, settle down please." Carter holds his hands up placatingly. "We'll get to everything, I promise."

Resolve solidified on Ladybug's face, and she says, "Start with the most important things. What can you do to help? How dangerous would it be for Hawk Moth to akumatize you?"

"Anything you need us to." Carter says. "We're both able fighters, and we can help you in the akuma battles. I will be almost impossible to akumatize, even without the care I'm taking not to get worked up. As a side effect of my bond with Arrel, my kwami, my spirit is stronger and calmer than most. I will be able to get much more upset with much less for Hawk Moth to target as a result. I'm, of course, still taking measures to avoid it. My partner is in a bit more of a precarious situation. His kwami is progeny of Hawk Moth's – that means that they draw from the same power, and through that, to an extent, can sense each other. A sorceress friend of ours made charms for us a long time ago that protect us from magical detection, so we should be relatively safe, though the plan is to use that connection to find Hawk Moth himself, and there is no situation in which Avery can find Hawk Moth where Hawk Moth cannot detect Avery in turn.

"Luckily, he has good control over his emotions, and his principle, liminality, is a very odd one. It's impossible to predict exactly how it'll interact with an akuma, but it's very unlikely that even if he were akumatized, he would be fully under Hawk Moth's control. Our secrets will most likely be safe regardless."

Ladybug scowls. "I'm hearing a lot of maybes. If there's even a chance that Hawk Moth can get all the knowledge you have about the Miraculous…"

"A calculated risk. We would not have come if we thought that would happen. Trust me. It would take years to fully explain the way Avery's Miraculous and powers work, and another few years on top of that to fully explain his connection to Hawk Moth. We will be happy to do so, when time permits, but please, for now just trust that we know what we're doing. We've been keepers for a long time."

Ladybug silently stares them down for a long moment, and then she says, "A _sorceress_ gave you charms?"

"Yeah." Carter shrugs. "The kwami are hardly the only magical beings in the world. Our friend Mia is a sorceress. Her brother's a witch. Some of our best friends are actually spirits, changelings, or werebeasts. Avery and I will teach you about magic and the magical community when you feel you're ready to learn. Your guardian worried that telling you of the community would distract you from Hawk Moth and the attacks, but the truth is, if you find people in the community you trust, they may be the only support you get that will understand the magical side of your lives. That's actually the other reason we came. We found out how old you are, and realized you're being thrown to the wolves, so we wanted to offer you our support. Anything you need. If you need help in the fights, we'll be there. If you need a place to hide, or someone to vent to, you can drop by our apartment. The door and windows are always unlocked. Whatever you're willing to trust us to provide, we'll do what we can. But you can't take the weight of this fight with Hawk Moth all on your own. No one could, and you deserve the chance to be kids, whether you're heroes or not."

Ladybug seems taken aback by Carter's declaration, but Chat Noir seems just about ready to cry. "Y-you really mean that?" He asks.

"Of course." Carter says. "What's been done to you both is horrific. The guardian should never have charged kids your age with keeping the whole city safe. This whole mess is his responsibility in the first place, and to enlist child soldiers to clean it up is just…" Carter sighs. "But you're keepers now. If ever you wish to give up that responsibility, I promise you we won't judge you. If you want to stop fighting, you're welcome to, and I will personally make sure that you keep your Miraculous whether you keep fighting or not. If that's what you want, Avery and I can take it from here and get Hawk Moth's Miraculous ourselves. If you do want to keep fighting, Avery and I are here to help take some of the pressure off. Ladybug, you're the leader and we have no intention of usurping your authority here, but the same applies to you. If ever the pressure is too much, feel free to lean on us. We can take charge if you need us to, and we can even take over if you need us to. But, if you don't, we'll follow your lead. Either way, you're the keepers of creation and destruction, and you will remain so as long as you want to be. With the exception of abuse of the power, of course, but neither of you are like Hawk Moth."

Carter watches the kids expectantly, and after a long silence chuckles sheepishly. "Ah, sorry. I have a bad habit of lecturing. I rambled a bit, didn't I?"

There's another long, awkward silence, and then Carter is having the breath squeezed out of him. "Thank you." The whisper is so quiet Carter almost misses it, and then Ladybug jumps back like she's been burned and covers her face in embarrassment. Her voice, though, sounds relieved. "You have no idea how much of a relief it is to hear that. We've had to do this on our own all this time and I just… thank you so much for coming to help. We really, really need it."

Chat Noir frowns. "You promise?"

"Of course. Your guardian failed you by keeping secrets and putting too much pressure on you without properly preparing you to handle it. We understand that we're strangers, and strange adult men on top of that, but I promise you, our goal here in Paris is to ensure that you two don't miss out on your childhoods because of this responsibility the guardian has pushed onto you. Knowledge, support, the works. If you have any problem, any at all, even if it has nothing to do with magic or the Miraculous, you're more than welcome to come to us."

"We can't." Ladybug says quickly, cutting off whatever Chat Noir was going to say. "We have to keep our identities safe. Telling you too much would compromise us."

Seeing the way Chat Noir's ears droop and he hangs his head, Carter sighs. "I know you won't trust us with your identities right away, but if you do decide that we're trustworthy, you don't need to worry about that. As I said, I'm near-impossible to akumatize, and Avery wouldn't give away information like that even if he was. While we're together, he's a lot more difficult to akumatize, too. Your identities are probably safer with us than with the guardian. And knowing who you are will help us better know how to help you. If you ask us for advice, it might be different depending on what your situation at home is, for example." He shrugs. "Besides, it's not like we'll know anything about who you are anyway. If you told us your names right now, we wouldn't even recognize them. Neither of us know anyone your age in Paris."

"We can't." Ladybug repeats. "It's too dangerous for anyone to know our identities."

"No more dangerous than the situation already is." Carter shrugs. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of movement. Not risking more than a glance in that direction, he still manages to recognize what drew his eye. He smirks. "But as I said, we're here as you need us, with whatever you trust us with." Ladybug sighs in relief. "Not that we don't have our own investigations ongoing." He says, making her tense again immediately. "Primarily looking for Hawk Moth, of course, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if someone already figured out your identities. We learned your ages that way, I'm sure there's more. We may hear it as we go, and without a much better reason, we're not calling off the search for Hawk Moth. It'd be good to know just how much people know about you already, anyway."

Carter glances again towards the figure hiding nearby, and spies Avery following his gaze. The kids remain ignorant, but the figure itself quickly shrinks away, clearly knowing it has been caught. Carter runs his thumb along the edge of the discus at his side – his weapon – a speed-dial of sorts. Avery's own weapon, one of the tonfa on his belt, beeps insistently. He takes it in hand and a small screen slides out of the end. "Pardon me." He says politely, smiling at each of the kids. "I'll be right back." Then, he takes off towards the figure spying on them. From where the kids are standing, he disappears behind a building, but Carter can clearly see him grab someone before he disappears from view.

In all likelihood, that spirit spying on them is harmless. Nothing said is strictly "secret" anyway, not among the magical community, at least. But if this little spirit makes a habit of following people and listening in, and if they're taking an interest in Ladybug and Chat Noir, or the Miraculous, they might know more about Hawk Moth or even the heroes. They're not in trouble, but either he or Avery have to check before they vanish and their chance is gone.

"Is something happening?" Alya asks. "Was that important?"

"Important enough for him to handle it immediately." Carter answers. "Not enough to bother interrupting us. Don't worry about it. If he couldn't handle it alone, he would have asked for help. It's probably just Morgan calling again."

"Who's Morgan?"

"A close friend of ours. He's in Paris on his honeymoon and is scheduled to leave tomorrow, so they probably just want to say goodbye while we're all here."

"Is he… magic?"

Carter chuckles. "He's a changeling."

"That's so cool!"

Despite Alya's excitement, Ladybug remains troubled. "I guess you have a point. But please, don't look for our identities. If someone already knows, we want to know who, but don't go looking for them. Please, just focus on Hawk Moth."

Carter nods. "We can do that."

"You don't… you don't think Hawk Moth might be magic, do you? Like a… changeling? Wouldn't that make it almost impossible to find him?"

"Not at all. I guarantee you that Hawk Moth is an ordinary human. Or, that's not strictly true. Being bonded with a kwami does change you, so he can't be considered a total muggle exactly, but for all intents and purposes, he's ordinary. The Miraculous don't respond to people who already have that kind of magic within them, so only non-magic folk can be keepers. Plus, from what people were telling me last night, it seems like Hawk Moth isn't even aware of the magical community. That's a very good thing."

"Oh, good. That's a relief."

"_Mein Lieber_." Carter turns back to where Avery lands. The call is amused, but insistent. No danger, but requiring Carter's attention.

Chat Noir coos at the affectionate address, though. He understands German, then, at least a little. It's Carter and Avery's default when they want to talk without people overhearing, so they'll have to keep that in mind. This address, though, is just affection. Avery isn't hiding anything.

Just behind Avery stands a small spirit. They present as female, but with spirits that's not a very reliable tell as to what they actually are, with flowing blonde hair and green eyes not unlike Chat Noir's. They're incorporeal for sure, which means that they're almost definitely weak, relatively speaking, but also that the three kids most likely can't see them. Ladybug and Chat Noir's transformations may have granted them the sensitivity to see the spirit but considering neither of them even knew spirits exist and they aren't reacting to their visitor right now, Carter assumes not. They also appear rather young, rounded face and pouty features, but like the gender, with spirits appearance is not so reliable a gauge of a person.

"What's up, _Bärchen_?"

Behind him, Carter hears a quiet squeal of, "_Bärchen_! Because he's a polar bear! That's brilliant!"

Avery ignores it. "Ladybug and Chat Noir," he says, "have their own little guardian angel."

The spirit squeaks in protest. "I'm helping!"

"She's helping." Avery says, helpfully.

"I didn't do anything! I promise!" The spirit says. "I've only helped them! I'm here for the same reason you are!"

"Good." Carter says. "I'm glad she's watching out for them. Don't you think she should introduce herself, though?"

"It's not my fault they can't see me! I haven't been hiding from them!"

Avery chuckles and shrugs. "Blame their guardian. He's the one that didn't tell them about spirits."

Carter looks back to the kids to get two different questions at once. One from Chat Noir, bouncing excitedly, and the other from Ladybug, wary and guarded.

"Are you two together?!"

"Someone's been following us?!"

Carter laughs. "Yes. To both of you. Don't feel bad about not noticing. She's a spirit, essentially a ghost, practically speaking. No one ever taught you how to see them, so you can't be blamed for not noticing one was following you. She's just trying to help, though."

Ladybug narrows her eyes. "How do you know that?"

Carter shrugs. "Avery is a very good judge of character. Also, if you know what to look for, it's extremely hard for spirits to lie. Hard to lie to them, too. Has to do with how lies affect your own spirit and how they see the world. Avery could explain better, but that's probably a bit tangential to this conversation. Point is, she's not lying. She's just trying to help. Wasn't hiding, either, it's just your guardian's neglectful teaching that means you haven't learned how to tell she's there. Avery and I can help with that, though it would be easier someplace quieter." He looks back at the spirit. "Hey, what do we call you? Do you know their identities?"

The spirit grumbles a little, crossing her arms. "Anais. And yes, of course, I do. I've been trying to help where I could so they wouldn't be so stressed while they're fighting Hawk Moth."

"Anais." Carter says. "Nice to meet you."

"Did you hear that, bugaboo? Those heroes are together. We could be, too!"

"We're not heroes." Carter says before Ladybug has to fend Chat off herself. He can already tell she does enough of that. "We're historians. We also don't have secret identities. Also, didn't she tell you not to call her bugaboo?"

"She doesn't mean it." Chat says flippantly. "She loves when I call her bugaboo."

Carter raises his brow and looks to Ladybug. "That true?"

"No." Ladybug growls. "But we have bigger things to worry about right now."

Carter shares a look with Avery, and with Anais – the exasperated and annoyed look on her face tells him that this sort of thing isn't at all new. They'll definitely have to have a chat with Chat Noir about this behavior, but Ladybug is right. Now isn't the time. Not only is that a conversation better had one-on-one, but they also don't have enough of Chat's trust yet to be sure he'll listen to a word they say.

"How long have you been together? How did you get together?" Surprising Carter, it's Alya who asks those questions. She's been an eager onlooker this whole time, but Chat was the romance-focused one so far.

Carter supposes he can't blame them. They're young teenagers. Romance must seem like such a major thing to them, just entering the stage of life where it's relevant and all. Carter remembers how important it was to everyone when he was their age. At least they're not put off by both of them being men. "Over five years, now." He says. "And same as anyone else, I suppose. Started as friends, gave dating a shot, never stopped." He shrugs. "But that's irrelevant to our work. Right now, we should focus on that."

"Thank you." Ladybug sighs. "That spirit. She's here right now?"

"Yep. You want to meet her?"

"Can I? How?"

"You know how to meditate?" Ladybug eyes him curiously and nods. "Start with that. Basically, what we want to do is teach you what you're looking for to sense spirits. If you meditate and open your mind to everything you're feeling, and a spirit touches you, that's usually the fastest way to teach someone that sensitivity. You just have to focus on what the spirit feels like, and you'll, uh, 'tune in' so to speak to their wavelength. Being new, you won't be able to see any old spirit that wanders by, but once you get used to her you shouldn't have any problems spotting Anais if she isn't hiding from you. More practically you're learning how to feel through your own spirit, but that's a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo that would take forever to explain. Again, I'm more than happy to explain it all if you want, but that's probably better saved for another time."

"Agreed." Ladybug says. "Let's do it."

"You down for this, Anais?" Carter looks over to her.

"I've been ready for this for forever." She says. "It's about time someone teaches these kids something useful."

"Alright. Chat Noir, Alya, you too. Sit down with Ladybug. You two know how to meditate?"

"I think so." Chat says. Alya nods and closes her eyes, quickly sitting like Ladybug does.

Carter guides them all through it, and as Anais touches each of their arms, with some prompting from Carter for Alya and Chat, they all manage to feel her. This isn't Carter's first rodeo – he's guided a lot of people through spiritual sensitivity training – so he manages to get them seeing Anais in no time.

But Anais herself… kind of concerns Carter. He has no doubt she's a great person, really. In fact, he's glad for the chance to give Ladybug and Chat Noir one more person looking out for them. But free spirits, those incorporeal ones, are ghosts. Carter's best friend, Shiloh, is one such spirit. A bakeneko, the lingering spirit of a dead cat, flushed with the same magic that turns living cats into nekomata. He's the reason Carter has so much practice teaching spiritual sensitivity.

Carter doesn't know the details of Anais' life, but there are only so many reasons spirits end up unattached to bodies. It's theoretically possible to be born free, true, but free spirits aren't actually very common, and the only non-ghost free spirits Carter's ever heard of are purely theoretical. If he gets the chance, he'd like to talk to her.

Not that it's any of his business. If she's not inclined to share, he won't force the issue.

All the kids are a little shocked by the spirit they can suddenly see. Alya is particularly excited, already grabbing her phone again and asking question after question – they should probably tell her that Anais won't show up on camera no matter her own sensitivity – but Ladybug and Chat Noir frown, examining her closely.

It's Chat Noir that speaks first. "Have I seen you before?"

Anais snorts, almost derisively. "I hope so. I've tried to get your attention enough times."

Carter chuckles. "Even unsensitive people can occasionally see spirits, especially if that spirit wants to be seen. Some ghost stories start that way. It's likely you've seen her around without realizing."

Both Chat and Ladybug nod acceptingly.

"Can you be akumatized?" Ladybug asks. "You knowing our identities is dangerous. You do know, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do." Anais says. "And no, I can't be akumatized. You're safe." Carter furrows his brow. He doesn't really see why she wouldn't be able to be akumatized, since his understanding is that it's primarily a corruption of the spirit. But that's also pure theory. Practically speaking, the only recorded akumatizations involve the akuma infesting a physical object on the victim's being. A free spirit has no such being nor objects to infect, so Carter supposes it would make sense for her to be immune. What an interesting dilemma. He certainly doesn't wish Hawk Moth would try, but he is curious as to whether it's truly possible.

"Good." Ladybug sighs. "And you've been… helping? How, exactly?"

Anais huffs. "Sorry if I can't poltergeist Hawk Moth's Miraculous to you. I've been doing what I can!"

"Woah, hey, I wasn't trying to… accuse you or anything. I just never noticed."

"That's because you kept writing me off as your ladybug 'good luck'." Anais sneers. "And for your information, I asked Britt to ask Julian to tell these two about you and get you teachers who actually know what they're doing, so feel free to thank me."

"You're the one who leaked their ages." Carter realizes. "You knew we'd come when we found out."

"Duh. Julian talks about his cousin's pet keepers all the time! If you were half the people he makes you out to be, I knew you'd be chomping at the bit to come to help them. And I was getting sick of nothing getting done around here."

Well, now Carter understands why Avery was so amused. Anais is just… like this. She's honestly not all that different than Iinar when they first started out. Huffy and rude, but still helpful and well-meaning. Carter hopes she isn't a troublemaker like Iinar, though.

"I'm sorry." Ladybug says, ducking her head. "I know we haven't been making any progress."

"Through no fault of yours!" Anais exclaims, rushing to fuss over her. "Don't you dare apologize for a thing! You were thrown out with no preparation and no guidance! Honestly, you've done more than any of us could expect of you! But that's exactly why something had to be done about the situation, and why the polar bear and the otter are here. You just listen well to them, okay dearie? They won't lead you wrong." She casts a glare over her shoulder at Carter and Avery. "You better not lead them wrong."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Carter says amicably. "We want the same thing you do."

"Are you sure?" Anais challenges. "Because I want Ladybug and Chat Noir safe and happy."

"Then I'm a hundred percent sure." Carter says. "That's the whole reason we're here."

"Hmph. Good."

"I just- wait." Ladybug shakes her head. "This is all just so much to take in! More Miraculous, spirits and changelings and sorceresses, y-you. What is even going on anymore?!"

"Oh, you poor dear." Anais pats Ladybug's head gently. "We have sprung quite a lot on you for tonight. Why don't you head home, hm? Give yourself some time to process everything. We can talk again anytime. Now that you can see me, you'll spot me occasionally throughout the day, even at school sometimes. Find a moment to sneak away if you ever want to talk to me, okay? And you can message either of these fine young men with any questions you have over the phone any time of day."

"Definitely." Carter says. "The only thing that's important to ask right away is what you want us doing during akuma battles. As I said, we're more than capable of fighting, but if you'd rather us be on reserve, to try to track Hawk Moth without announcing to him that we're here, we can sit out. If you need us in battle you can always send us a message."

Ladybug worries her lip. "I think that's a good idea. You focus on finding Hawk Moth. Let us handle the akuma unless I call you."

"Understood." Carter takes his discus from his hip and swipes his hand over it, bringing up the display. "In that case, if you'll connect your communicator with mine, I'll send you our personal numbers and you can text us at any time. I'll send you our address, too. I understand you may not trust us that much, but that offer of a hideaway, or home base, or whatever you need us for, is always on the table."

Ladybug hesitates before she nods, murmuring, "Thank you."


	3. A Story and a Question

Though Ladybug, after connecting their communicators so they can contact each other more easily, seems content to leave the conversation for the night, Chat Noir has other plans. "Hey, what about us?" Chat asks, as Ladybug turns to leave. "I've still got a whole bunch of questions!"

"Then ask them, Chat Noir." Anais rolls her eyes. "But Ladybug can leave if she wants to. We can catch her up later."

"I can stay a while longer." Ladybug says. "What did you want to ask, Chat?"

"Yes!" Chat cheers. "I wanted to talk about our secret identities!"

Ladybug groans, so Carter takes the reins on the conversation. "What for? She seemed pretty clear where she stands on that front."

"Yeah, but you two know each other!" Chat protests, gesturing to Carter and Avery. "You're partners, right? Soulmates! Just like me and bugaboo! But she insists on these stupid secrets so we can't be together."

That is a concerning statement. Those "stupid secrets" really are kind of stupid, in Carter's opinion, but blaming Ladybug won't help anyone. They're the guardian's secrets, by and large, not hers. And on the matter of identity in particular Carter knows her kwami _and_ the guardian have repeatedly told her to keep it secret. No one can blame her for that. Still, he can't disagree with the feeling behind Chat's complaint. It's something he's talking to the guardian about, after all. But that's an issue better addressed alone. There's too much nuance with how it's affecting them and how they're responding to it and whose fault it all is, and if Ladybug is here to defend or rub in her position, they'll only get riled up, and Carter doesn't know either of them well enough to know for sure that Ladybug won't do that.

The soulmate bit, however, can be addressed if he's clever enough about it. Carter takes a moment to consider how to approach this, and then shakes his head slowly. "Avery and I are not soulmates." He says.

Chat blinks dumbly for a moment, taken aback. "But you love each other, don't you?"

"Of course, we do, but that's not something that happened to us. We weren't drawn together by magic or the universe. Our Miraculous aren't at all related, and even if they were, the relationships between the kwami don't affect the keepers." There's a flash in Chat Noir's eyes, a hesitance. Carter has a feeling he just hit one of the right notes. "We're friends. We trust each other. One day, we chose to love each other."

That, it seems, truly baffles the poor kid. Even Ladybug seems taken aback by the statement. "You don't just… choose to love someone! Are you sure we're talking about the same thing? Ladybug is perfect! She's amazing! I couldn't stop loving her if I tried!"

Carter chuckles. This is a good opportunity. Maybe they can get a better idea of the dynamic between Chat and Ladybug if they pay attention as they tell the tale. Plus, telling them a personal story will go a long way in earning their trust. "Do you want to hear the whole story? About how we fell in love? It'll be a good break from all this serious talk, and it might help you a little, if you pay attention."

"Yes! Yes, tell me, please!" Chat Noir and Alya are lapping up this topic, but Ladybug rolling her eyes does not go unnoticed.

"Alright, alright, make yourself comfortable." Carter shares a loving look with Avery, who rolls his eyes, and begins his tale. "Avery was in a few of my classes in school, but we didn't talk much. We actually only really met once he got his Miraculous. I am the senior keeper, so I had to take him under my wing, so to speak. In truth, our mentor did most of the actual teaching. But I watched over him, helped him along wherever I could. For a while, that was the extent of our relationship. Friends. And partners in this." Carter touches his Miraculous, a totem hanging around his neck, and smiles.

"What happened to make that change?" Chat Noir asks. "You weren't interested in him at all?"

Carter chuckles. "No. Our relationship was totally platonic. Actually, what happened was Avery started dating Morgan – I mentioned him before, right?" Chat nods, so Carter continues. "Now, you have to understand; we love Morgan. We love him to bits. But back then he was…" Carter bites his lip, searching for the right words.

"A complete and utter ass." Avery says. "Also, a thief and drug addict in and out of jail weekly."

"Right. That." Carter shakes his head.

Chat Noir gasps dramatically. "Why did you date him, then?"

Avery shrugged. "He's hot, he likes me, and he's fun to be around. When he's not breaking the law, anyway. Sometimes then, too."

"_Bärchen_." Carter warns. "We're supposed to be good influences."

Avery just snickers. "Nothing wrong with breaking the law. So long as it's a stupid law."

"Shh." Carter hisses. "No. Let me tell the story." Avery laughs and waves for him to continue. "Anyway, as you can tell, Morgan was a very, very bad influence. Even he knew their relationship was toxic for both of them, but Morgan at the time was… desperate for positive attention. Avery gave him that. According to him, he was always just waiting for Avery to throw him to the curb. Was trying to _get_ him to throw him to the curb, all the while feeling guilty that he was hurting Avery through it." Chat Noir grimaces and turns his eyes to the concrete. Carter sighs. "I remember one of their arguments so clearly."

Avery nods, too. "'What'll it take for you to notice I'm horrible for you?'" He says. "I had no idea what to say to him after that. Still don't."

Even Alya seemed shocked. "He really asked you that?"

"Yeah. He said after everything that he was too afraid of being alone to break up with me, but he didn't want to hurt me, so he kept trying to push me away. That hurt me. But it was so obvious what he was doing that I kept at it." With a sigh and a hand carded through his thick hair, Avery says, "I may also have been lonely, and afraid that I'd never find anyone else if I lost him. It was a bad situation all around."

"So… how did you break up?" Chat asks timidly.

"He cheated on me." Avery says. "For the… fourth time?" He looks over to Carter.

"Fifth. It was the fifth that I finally convinced you not to take him back."

"Fifth." Avery corrects. "And Carter talked sense into me."

Alya wrinkles her nose. "And you're friends with him?"

Avery laughs. "He's still fun to be around."

Carter smacks his arm. "After everything happened, we actually didn't see Morgan for over a year. When he came back he was… well, he's still a mess, but he was a lot better. He took the time to figure himself out and grow and now we're proud to know him. He got clean, did some soul-searching. He's a good guy now. Always was, really, just misguided and on the wrong path. Took me a long while to forgive him for what he did to Avery, but that was years ago, and they've both moved on, so I let it go, too."

Alya hums thoughtfully. "So, how did you end up getting together?"

Carter laughs. "Simply put? I got jealous. I mean, I still maintain that my concern over Avery's relationship with Morgan was totally valid."

"It was." Avery adds.

"But I was also very jealous. And not all of my actions during that time were totally appropriate." At this, Carter spies Ladybug duck her head with a sick expression on her face. That's interesting. And something to look out for. He glances to Anais, hoping for input, but she doesn't give away anything with her expression, only the fact that she trains her eyes on Ladybug. "My friends called me out on it before it ever significantly affected Avery, thankfully, but it happened. That was the start of my interest in him. I'm still not sure exactly what clicked, but somewhere along the line seeing him be all affectionate with Morgan made me wonder what it'd be like to do that with him myself, and then all of a sudden, I wanted to. Again, not a good situation. We lovingly refer to that whole period of our lives as a disaster, and I certainly wasn't an exception."

Alya giggles. "Trust me, dude, we totally understand what it's like to be a disaster."

Carter laughs along with her. "Everyone does. Everyone goes through that. Anyway, our friend Annie, the saint that she is, put up with my pining and kept me in check for a while. That went on for… embarrassingly long, until our friend Asher took me aside and talked to me."

"Asher," Avery says, "is, like, the wise-beyond-his-years mom friend. He was about our age now when we were around seventeen – that's when this happened. Also, he didn't pull Carter aside. Carter totally asked him for advice."

Carter nods. "He said to me, 'Attraction is normal, and crushes are good, but love that lasts – the kind old grandparents still devoted to each other have – that's something you choose.' He said, 'The choice to love someone is a choice you make every day. Every time you see that person, you choose love. Every time they annoy you, you choose to love them anyway. Every time they love you, you choose to love them, too.' He was trying to prepare me for a serious relationship, since Avery was already such an important part of all of our lives, and the whole disaster with Morgan. But that really changed my perspective on what love is."

"It's a choice?" Ladybug whispers. She frowns, as if unconvinced.

Carter chuckles. "I know it seems strange to you. You all are at the age where you're still exploring your very first loves. It's all exciting and fast and dramatic. But us? Me and Avery? It's none of that. Well, it's exciting sometimes, but for the most part it's quiet. After Asher told me that, I stepped back a bit. Examined my behavior and my crush. Realizing I had gotten… uh… protective over him, I decided that since that was unhealthy behavior, I wouldn't put Avery through another toxic relationship. Until I was confident that I wouldn't be acting like that anymore, I resolved to give up my crush on him. And I did."

"You did?" Chat Noir gasps. "Like, you didn't love him anymore?"

"No, I didn't. Not romantically. I won't lie and say things were back to normal, but I was happy just being his friend. I was happy just loving him as we were. Platonically."

"How?" Ladybug asks. "How'd you do that?"

"It was all about perspective." Carter answers. "Asher told me that the kind of love I wanted, that long-term love, is a choice. I trust Asher with my life. I know he wouldn't tell me anything he doesn't truly believe, and I knew he was telling me that because he wanted to help me. I also didn't want to be so possessive of Avery, and I knew actually being in a relationship would only make that worse. So, I chose to give up. I focused on my behavior, worked on fixing it, and by the time I was at a place I was satisfied with, I realized Asher was right. My choice to give up on him actually did end up with me not interested in him that way anymore."

"Wait, so, what happened, then?" Alya asks. "If you weren't interested in him, how did you get together?"

"We decided to choose each other." Carter shrugs. "Like I said. We were friends. We trusted each other. Eventually we chose to love each other. We already did by then, platonically. We had a long talk and decided that we want to spend all our lives together anyway, so, we may as well give romance a shot. See if it works out. Said that if either of us lost interest in it, we'd stop and go back to a strictly platonic relationship. Then, we never stopped. Been five years now, so I think he loves me."

"Course I do, _mein Lieber_." Avery nudges him playfully. "But that's the story. Not super climactic, but I think if you're going to love someone even on the most boring days, that's probably a good thing."

"Huh." Alya scratches at her chin. Ladybug and Chat Noir both stare at the ground like it's the most difficult puzzle in the world. Watching them, Carter thinks maybe fixing this whole love situation with them will be easier than he thought. Chat is clearly already listening to him, and whatever situation Ladybug is in, this has clearly offered her another perspective, too. That's good, if she really is jealous and possessive like her reactions tell him.

Carter is reluctant to pull them out of their thoughts. He is the keeper of patience, after all, and he knows reflection is usually a good thing, so he's inclined to let them think. But Alya moves on, and that snaps the two keepers out of their reverie, and Carter knows the moment is over. "So, uh…" Alya asks hesitantly. "How much of all this can I share, anyway?"

"I don't see why anyone would be interested in our relationship." Carter jokes "But just be careful. You already said Ladybug could comb through it. Otherwise, use your judgement. Names, obviously, other identifying stuff. The magic community is hidden, and they won't appreciate you revealing them – nor will the public believe you, so you might want to keep that quiet too, for your own reputation."

"What do you mean they won't believe me? We see magic every day! It's not that hard to believe there's more of it!"

"True." Carter concedes. "But there's a reason the community has stayed hidden so long. Just consider it a warning. If you do decide to post about it, you'll end up discredited and you will lose any good faith the community may have in you. So, you can either learn about the community and have those relationships and connections – they're not the most friendly to non-magics but there's plenty of us immersed in it – but keep it a secret, or you can have them all hate you for a post that won't even be believed."

Alya scowls. "Why even tell me, then?"

Carter smiles. "We have a reporter friend. Her name's Chase. She's in the same position as you, a non-magic working within the magical community. The community adores her. Can you guess what she does?"

Alya crosses her arms and taps her foot impatiently. "Aside from hide the biggest scoop in history?"

"She reports on current events." Carter says. "Draws attention to things. Movements, bills, tragedies, stuff that affects the community. She advocates for them, without revealing them. Draws attention to corruption that hurts us, people that screw us over. You can make a difference, a big one, without revealing people who don't want that attention."

Alya stills, going quiet and pensive. "I guess you're right."

Carter hums. "Any other questions? Or are we done for the night?"

"I think…" Ladybug says shakily, "that's enough for tonight. We all have a lot to think about. Thank you, Polar Bear, Otter, for coming to help us. And for sharing that story with us."

"It's our pleasure." Carter says. "And remember, all of you, if you have any questions, anything at all. Anything we didn't get to or that occurs to you later, please contact us. We're more than happy to answer anything we can."

"I'm heading home. Goodnight, everyone."

"Night, L.B." Chat says softly, joining the other's parting words.

"And you two?" Carter asks, turning to Alya and Chat.

"I…" Alya starts, but cuts herself off. "Sure. We can talk more another time."

"That's for the best." Anais says. "Go on, now. Be safe. It's getting late."

"Of course. I'll see you guys later. Thanks for letting me be here. I know I wasn't necessary, so… thanks."

Carter smiles and nods to her before she turns her back to leave. Chat Noir is still frowning at the pavement. "You should head home, too, dear." Anais says, gently touching his shoulder. He jumps, but Carter can't be sure if that's because her touch caught him off guard or if he just still isn't used to how it feels to have a spirit touch him.

Chat shakes his head roughly. "Right. I'll go, then. See you all later."

As he leaps away, Anais turns to Carter. "Clever boy." She says. "You're even smarter than I imagined."

"Ah, not really." Carter chuckles. "I didn't do much."

"No? You picked out their whole ridiculous love dynamic and told a story highlighting all the faults in it."

"Pfft, hardly. I just told the true story of our own lives. None of those issues are unique, or even rare. Kids act like that all the time. They're still figuring it out; no one can blame them for that. I didn't even highlight anything. I just told the story as it is, and any similarities they recognized was all them. If this helps them, then that just means they're smart."

Anais gives him a doubting look and turns to Avery. "Is he always so insufferably humble?"

"Oh, yeah." Avery says immediately. "But he's not wrong. If he was directly addressing that ridiculous love dynamic, he would have lectured them. Actually, I'm pretty sure he told that story to try to figure out the dynamic, not because he already knew it."

"My love," Carter says, "once again proving he's the smart one."

Anais gives him another critical once-over. "Hm. Clever. Fine, then. Let's continue this conversation at your place. It's about time the adults talked."

"Of course." Carter looks to Avery. "Ready?"

Avery nods. "Let's go."

Anais stays quiet, mostly, on the way back to the apartment, and neither Carter nor Avery feel the need to make small talk out in the open, so they end up back inside the apartment in relative silence. It's only after the door is shut behind her that Anais speaks up again. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste." She says. "And I have a few concerns about them."

Carter purses his lips and shares a look with Avery. Arrel and Iinar are out and about now, but Iinar just gets a wicked glint in its eyes and pulls Avery's attention away. That's usually not a good thing. "Those are Ladybug and Chat Noir's names, I assume." Carter says. "What's so concerning?"

"Simply put, Marinette is held to an impossible standard, is overworked, and is incapable of turning people down except for when they want her to take a break. I know you noticed, but she's also obsessive over her crush – on Adrien, by the way – less in an entitled pushy way like he is with Ladybug, but definitely in a jealous stalker way. I don't blame her, she's still so young – I don't blame him, either – but someone needs to explain to her what she's doing wrong.

"Adrien is in an abusive household with a widowed father who treats their relationship like it's business and has no real concern for Adrien's well-being. He gets no love or support and is either entirely alone or having his life dictated to him by his father's secretary. Plus, as you've noticed, he doesn't respect Ladybug's boundaries. And that's just the start. Quite frankly, I'm _pissed_ that the guardian chose them to be heroes."

That is… concerning. Unfortunately, Carter isn't sure he can actually do anything about Adrien's father. Marinette might get to a better place with some work, since it sounds like it's at least partly her own behavior – no doubt encouraged by the adults in her life but her behavior nonetheless – but if Adrien's problems stem from his father… there's only so much Carter can do in a situation like that. He can't exactly step in to intervene with the boy's father. That'd be difficult even if he could explain why he cares at all about Adrien in the first place.

"So, what's your angle in this?" Iinar asks, flipping upside down in the air teasingly. "Strange spirit, stalking a couple o' kids?"

"Excuse me?" Anais gasps. Avery sighs and covers his face. He tried, Carter knows, to get Iinar to back off, but that's a fool's errand on a good day. "I already said! I want to help them so that they can finally put an end to that fool Hawk Moth!"

"Sure, sure." Iinar says, clearly just brushing her off. "But what do you care about Hawk Moth? Huh, free spirit?"

"My name is Anais and I care because he's hurting the city." Anais hisses. "Some of us don't need more than that, kwami."

Despite her derisive tone, Iinar snickers. Carter's seen this kind of behavior before – Iinar is a bit troublesome, but when it pushes people like this, it's because it knows it'll bother them. It's getting a rise out of her, but it also means that Iinar knows something Carter doesn't. That doesn't stop Arrel from chastising it. "Iinar, do not harass our guest!"

"The only harassment around here is what you do to me, old man." Iinar sneers. "And the kids to each other, apparently, hehe."

"How many times do we need to talk about this behavior?" Arrel groans. "It's entirely inappropriate!"

"Oh, shush! What's inappropriate is how you still don't trust me!"

Carter clears his throat awkwardly as the kwami continue bickering. "Apologies." He says to Anais. "They're… just like that."

Avery snickers. "You should've seen them when we first awakened Iinar."

"My point is!" Iinar raises its voice to be heard over Arrel, and Carter and Avery's own diversion. "That's no ordinary spirit!"

"No?" Avery asks, eyeing Anais, who ducks her head, grumbling. "I thought she looked weird, but what is she, then?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

"I'm standing right here, you know!" Anais exclaims. "And before you ask, I don't know, either." With a proud huff, she crosses her arms and turns her nose up at them. "And what do you mean I look weird?! Can you be more rude?! I heard Julian said you guys know pretty much everything about spirits and magic, so I hoped when you got here you could tell me. Clearly he was wrong."

"Definitely." Carter agrees, still keeping his voice soft and calm, trying to defuse what Iinar started. "We don't know everything, and we wouldn't claim to. But we do know a lot, and Iinar and Avery could tell right away there's something different about you. Since it's them, it probably has to do with their powers – they can actually see you like another spirit would, unlike me. But, if you really want our help, we can explore it more. Then, maybe we can figure it out together, yeah?" Anais grumbles and glares at Avery and Iinar but does nod approval to Carter. "Do you want to go over that now, or should we talk more about Ladybug and Chat Noir first?"

"The kids are more important than me." Anais says quickly. "But… thank you. I'd appreciate the help. I'll answer whatever you need to know, and you can… look it up or something? Where do you learn everything, anyway?"

Carter chuckles. "We do have a library, but that's mostly stuff directly relevant to the Miraculous. Mostly we just use our brains – our mentor taught us a lot about magic. Though we do record things just for our own reference. In case we forget something. If learning more about your situation doesn't clue us off as to what's happening, then something in our records probably will. But you wanted to talk about the kids first, right?" When she confirms that for him, he asks, "Their situations are bad, so what would you recommend we do about it?"

Anais wrinkles her nose. "Isn't that your job to figure out?"

"Aha. Well, you've been following them for a long time now. You're the one that knows everyone involved. Part of figuring out what to do is listening to the people who have much more information than us. So, what would you do?"

"Well, first off," she says, "I'd teach the guardian a lesson."

Carter nods approvingly. "We already talked to him once, and plan to keep an eye on him. Trust me, if he doesn't shape up, we'll take the Miraculous from him. This isn't going to happen again."

"Just take them now and get it over with." Anais says. "He brought children into a fight to save the world!"

"He's also a guardian." Carter sighs. "That's not just an honorary title. There are a lot of magics involved in the naming of a guardian, and to circumvent them won't be easy – especially since we're not even aware of everything involved. If he was just some guy collecting the Miraculous, I'd be more eager to take them, but not knowing every safeguard the guardians have makes approaching that recklessly dangerous for everyone. If possible, no matter how frustrating it is, it's better to focus on bettering him than removing him. We will, if he proves unwilling to change, but the risks of ousting him and the potential benefits of having his knowledge on our side makes me think it's more sensible to give him a chance. Does that make sense?"

"He had a chance when he was choosing his heroes! He had a chance when he chose not to even tell them what the Miraculous are! And he had another chance when Ladybug found him and he chose to still keep Chat Noir in the dark about him even existing! He doesn't deserve more chances!"

"That's probably true." Carter concedes. "As far as I'm concerned, he ruined every chance he had when he decided child soldiers is a good idea. Even still, can you understand why I'm reluctant to storm his place and just take the Miraculous from him?"

Like it physically hurts her to admit, Anais growls out. "I suppose."

"I know it's hard to watch him go unpunished for what he did." Carter says. "And the truth is I'm not entirely selfless in this. This is the only known guardian still alive. He might be the only one who can tell us the details of the old guardian order. And remember, I am still a historian – recording what he knows and preserving it, even if we never intend to revive the order, is my responsibility just as much as looking after those kids is. I can't do that if I burn all bridges with him right away. We've already given him a warning, so I'm hoping we can at least learn something before we're forced to remove him. If it comes to that."

Anais scowls. "So that's your angle."

"Learning, and preserving knowledge, has always been and always will be my goal. I agree with you that the kids are the most important thing here, so if I'm forced to choose, trust that I'll choose them, but I will never pretend that I'm not doing my own thing here, as well. Is that unacceptable to you?"

"Hmph. I suppose not. So long as you'll do what you need to for the kids in the end."

"I can promise you that. The kids take priority. Always."

"Good. You need to do something about their teacher, too."

"Their teacher? What's the story there?"

Anais groans. "Okay, so she's not awful, but if she keeps getting away with what she's doing she's going to seriously mess up those kids. Especially Marinette. She prioritizes peace in her classroom, over justice or even sense, sometimes. Last week is a good example – just know she's literally always like this. So, last week was her birthday. The kids all love her – not totally undeserved since she is at least nice – but Marinette got her a gift. Chloé Bourgeois – who, honestly is a whole other beast to tackle – vandalized that gift after the class called her out for not bringing anything for their teacher."

Carter makes a face. "Is bringing gifts for a schoolteacher normal here? I mean holidays sometimes, sure, but I don't remember ever bringing birthday presents for teachers. Or even knowing when they are."

"Why should I know? That's not the point!" Anais yells. "The bully vandalized the gift, and the teacher accepted it as if it came from both Marinette and Chloé. When Marinette got mad about the vandalism, the teacher took her out of the room to lecture her on forgiveness and setting a good example."

Avery furrows his brow and curls his lip at the thought. "Wait, so she blamed Marinette for Chloé vandalizing her present?"

"Not quite, thankfully." Anais growls. "But pretty damn close. She didn't blame her for the bad behavior, but she essentially told her that it's her responsibility to put up with and fix the troublemakers. I can't be sure Marinette didn't take it the same way you did. If you can manage it, I'd try talking to the teacher. I really do think she just doesn't realize what kind of lesson that's teaching her students. From what I've seen, she'll work to get better if she realizes what's wrong. Unlike Adrien's dad."

Carter hums. "Finding an excuse to talk to her might be difficult. Do you know if there's any of the community in her class? Maybe someone who would let us pose as relatives? Or whose relatives could work with us on this?"

"Or a graphics wizard who could help us with documents?" Avery adds.

Carter laughs, remembering the last time they had Minnie's help on a project. That was a night to remember – all because of a magical forgery. "We could talk to IAME, too, but I'm not sure how much presence they have in the schools here."

Anais rubs her chin. "There is one kid in that class, actually, Juleka Couffaine. Some kind of spellcaster. I've never met her family, though, so I don't know if they'd help us."

"Worth a shot." Carter says. "We'll start there. Any idea where to find them?"

"The river." Anais says. "I can't say for certain that it's the same family – I haven't checked – but an Anarka Couffaine is pretty well-known. She lives on a houseboat on the Seine and is infamous for being very noisy. I don't know much else about her, unfortunately, I just heard her blasting her music one day and Britt told me about her. Honestly, I'm not even sure if Anarka herself is magic or not."

Carter hums. "So, confirm that Juleka is her daughter before bringing up magic stuff."

"Would be smart."

"Got it. We'll start with her, then go to IAME if we need to. Hey, _Bärchen_? Do you know where the IAME office here is?"

"Julian does." Avery says. "How do you plan to approach Anarka?"

Carter shrugs. "Good question. Do they have a door to knock on?"

"Ooh!" Iinar giggles gleefully. "I can do it! We know the girl is a spellcaster, right? So, I'll introduce myself to her and make sure that the lady is really her mom. And tell her to expect you."

Arrel makes a pained sound. "A fine plan, but, ah, perhaps I would be more suited to the role. Diplomacy is hardly your strong suit."

"At least I won't put her to sleep. You heard the freaky spirit; the mom is loud! That alone means she's got more fun in her pinky than you have in your whole stupid principle!"

"Our principles are not things which hold volume. And besides that, patience is just as capable of fun as your particular brand of irresponsibility and insincerity."

Iinar just laughs. "It's like you can't even hear yourself." It looks over to Carter again, ignoring Arrel's protests. "Come on, cub. Give the word."

Carter crosses his arms. It's true that Arrel is much more suited to diplomacy, but Carter isn't entirely sure that's necessary here. It's just an introduction. Although, Iinar is also instrumental in finding Hawk Moth, and though it's a short interruption, they might be better served using its energy towards that end rather than bothering some poor family. "Anais," Carter says, "what do you think?"

"Me?" Anais curls her lip. "Well, Britt did mention that Anarka often acts like a pirate…"

"Yes!" Iinar cheers. "I love pirates!"

Carter shares a look with Arrel and sighs. On one hand, anyone who acts like a pirate is sure to get along famously with Iinar. On the other… who in their right mind would let Iinar become friends with a pirate? Carter, apparently. "Yeah, I think that's all we needed to hear. We'll head by the school tomorrow. Iinar, find Juleka and introduce yourself as soon as you can. Try to stick with her if she'll let you. It'll give you a chance to see how the classroom works, too. Ask her and her mother if they'll let us over, and we'll head over as soon as you get back to us. Or, if they set a meeting for later. Any time works."

"Oh!" Anais says. "If you're going by there anyway, you should stop by _Tom and Sabine's Boulangerie and Patisserie_. It's Marinette's parents' bakery, but it's also apparently just really good. It's like, right next to the school, near the park. Marinette might see you, but you can just tell her I told you her identity unprompted. You didn't ask, so she can't blame you for it."

"Ah. That's why you told us so suddenly. You didn't want to give us a chance to ask."

Anais shrugs. "Wasn't sure if you would. But if you did, you'd break her trust. And either way, you needed to know. This way, she can trust you and you don't have to dodge around that ridiculous identity thing."

"Good thinking. We'll have breakfast at the bakery, then. Sound good, Avery? Arrel?"

Avery nods. "Yeah. Good a place as any. We should invite Morgan and Rhys, too."

"Good call. You want to text them, or should I?"

"I'll do it. If we've got our plans figured out, though… Anais. You said you want help figuring out what you are?"

Anais scrunches her nose. "It's better to know than to be surprised, so yeah. I guess."

"Hmm." Avery moves closer to her, eyes narrowing. Iinar likewise floats up to scrutinize her. "Well, you're a spirit, obviously. A free spirit, so you aren't part of a body, but… you're so… Hmm… what's the word?"

"All spirits exist in a liminal state." Iinar explains. "That's why I like them so much. They're literally part of my principle. It's why Avery can see like a spirit – we are spirits, sort of. We're basically in a constant state of 'almost' everything. Or, I am, anyway. You're much more similar to Avery than you are to most free spirits I've seen."

"That's what it is." Avery snaps his fingers. "She's like me."

Anais scoffs. "What do you mean I'm like you?"

Avery grumbles. "Not exactly, obviously. I'm a regular person who's living simultaneously in regular person world and the plane that you spirits inhabit. That's not unusual, _per se_, since everyone has a spirit that inhabits that plane, but, uh… When you interact with physical objects your spirit is temporarily inhabiting the physical plane. I do the same thing, and I can also uniquely do the reverse. It's what allows me to see the world like a spirit does, through the spiritual plane. Truthfully, it's not _exactly_ as a spirit does, since I'm seeing primarily through physical eyes but… whatever, that's not the point. The point is, you're not entirely here."

Anais makes a face. "What on earth are you talking about? Of course, I'm here!"

"No, no, of course you are." Avery says. "But you're also not. I'm not quite sure how to describe it… You're… stretched, so to speak. It's not visual so much as feeling, but it's sort of like… a glitched out game. You get the image? Like the animations are spazzing out and your model gets stretched all freaky."

Anais worries her lip and shifts her gaze quickly. "So, what? What does that mean? How does that help?"

"Not sure yet. Forgive me if this is too bold a question, but do you happen to know how you became a spirit?"

"How I became a spirit?" Anais parrots. "How did you become a human? What a ridiculous question!"

Avery frowns and turns to Carter for backup. If she truly doesn't know, then… Carter isn't really sure what to do with that information. A lot people don't know why a spirit lingers, but almost everyone knows that they are ghosts. In fact, most don't know that there are other ways for free spirits to exist besides dying. But free spirits are pretty rare, and Carter's own best friend, Shiloh, remembers intimately how he died. Carter had never heard of a spirit just not knowing. Perhaps, in this situation, blunt is best. "Do you not remember?" Carter asks. "Most spirits remember having a physical body. The circumstances of death can have a big impact on the spirit, both emotionally and in more obvious ways. Avery was wondering if maybe how you died could tell us why you're the way you are."

Anais stares at him, jaw dropped, with thinly veiled horror. "I… died?"

Carter hurries to explain. Free spirits are notoriously fragile. They can survive in perpetuity so long as they take care of themselves, but they easily get attached to things, often without even realizing. A home, a person, an object, those things become the spirit's anchor. If those things are destroyed, so is the spirit. Carter has read so many stories of spirits disappearing after a dear friend has died, or after a building was torn down. Depending on how impactful an event is to them, it could quite literally kill them. Carter himself has never met a wholly unattached spirit, though his mentor apparently has. As far as he knows only one or two have ever existed.

For that reason, something like this, some horrible trauma, could easily end in Anais dying. It's perfectly safe for her to feel it and work through it, that's why he tells her, but only if she has something else to attach to, something to keep her here if she wants to stay. Most likely, her obligation to help stop Hawk Moth will do, but this still makes Carter very nervous. "Most likely." He answers her, finally. "The only way I know of for a spirit to be born without a body is massively complex, and massively illegal, spellwork. If that was what happened to you, you would have been made with a reason, so I'm sure you'd know it."

Anais frowns, clearly unsettled. "Could my reason be stopping Hawk Moth?"

"Unlikely." Carter says truthfully. "There are… very few problems that much simpler spells, or even summonings, wouldn't solve much more easily. To summon a spirit, to craft one, that is, would only practically be used towards necromancy. Not to mention, I'm not familiar with the community here in Paris, but if someone were actually powerful and talented enough to pull off a spell like that, I have a hard time believing we wouldn't have heard of them. To my knowledge… maybe three people in the world could do that alone. None of them are in Paris. I suppose a group could, but… and where would they even find the spell? No, it's just too unrealistic. I hate to break it to you, but… the truth is you almost certainly have died at some point."

Anais, understandably distressed, growls, "And how would you know? How did you learn about that spell if it's so unlikely for people to find it?!"

"My best friend, Shiloh, is a bakeneko. A type of yokai. Nearly all bakeneko have some talent for necromancy. I did a lot of research, and I only learned about that spell in old Miraculous archives. I've never found even a hint of it outside our order's library, and even that doesn't have any instructions. I just know the theory behind it, really. It's not impossible, but it doesn't explain your situation and it's unrealistic to assume some long-lost necromantic ritual was involved. I'm sorry, but we have to assume the simpler explanation."

"I… But…" Anais sighs. "Then why don't I remember?"

"That's a very good question." Carter says. "Avery?"

Avery huffs a little. "Impossible to tell without knowing more. What do you remember? If you have no memory of a physical body, your memory must start somewhere. Maybe that could give us a lead as to who you were, and from there we can figure out what happened to you, and why you're the way you are now."

"I just… Just Britt. I woke up and she was taking care of me. I didn't know who I was or how I got there. Not even my name. Britt gave me the name Anais. That was at her place, but she said she found me by the river, right next to the bridge nearby Marinette's school. You don't think…"

"No." Avery says. "I don't. There's no reason you'd lose your memory if you had jumped from there. There's more to the story for sure. We just need to figure out what it is. Around when was this?"

"Last year." Anais scrunches up her face again. "No, more like a year and a half. It was August the year before last."

"Okay. We'll investigate, try to find some leads, bring you back anything that looks promising. Carter, you focus on figuring out who she was. I'll look into what kind of magic might have affected her like this. Arrel, since Iinar will be with Juleka, I want you with me, too."

"Can do." Carter says as Arrel chirps his own agreement. "We can get started on that after breakfast tomorrow, soon as Morgan and Rhys leave."

Anais frowns at them for a moment, and then smiles and shakes her head. "You guys do this a lot, don't you?"

Avery chuckles. "Oh, yeah. It's what keepers do."


	4. Working On It

"So, this means I'm invited on y'all's honeymoon, yeah?" Morgan grins wickedly over his croissant, leaning over the table to get closer to Carter. "You're going to let us join the fun?"

Carter just groans. "Tell you what. Fair's fair, you can see us _once_, when we agree to it, while we're on our honeymoon."

"Oooh, be careful there, Carter. Don't make promises without your man's permission; I'm _absolutely_ holding you to that."

"Naw, that's fine." Avery says easily. "As he said, fair's fair. We can get breakfast together sometime. But we haven't even seen each other since we got here, and you've still got most of your honeymoon away from us, so you're not allowed to use this to get any more than that."

"Aw." Morgan whines. "Boring."

"Not that we know what we're doing, yet. Ask again once we've figured it out."

"That's not a no!" Morgan cheers. "Not that you can stop me, but it'll be nicer if you aren't mad at me."

Rhys rolls his eyes. "Annie can and will stop you. I can, too."

Morgan chuckles and leans over close enough to give Rhys a kiss. "You could, but you wouldn't."

Straight-faced, Rhys says, "Test your luck if you want, but even if you're right, that doesn't solve your Annie problem."

"Oh, true enough." Dramatically draping himself over Rhys' shoulders. "Annie would straight-up murder me. I still don't think she's forgiven me for before. Honestly, it kind of feels like she's just waiting for me to screw up again."

"No offense," Avery says, "but if that were true, she would have already killed you. You haven't exactly been an angel, dude."

"I've been _trying_!"

"We know." Carter says. "That's why I'm still talking to you."

"How about we _not_ talk about the disaster on our honeymoon?" Rhys says. There's a general uncomfortable groan of agreement from the three of them. "What about your thing? How's it going with the keepers here?"

Carter sighs heavily. "Still early, but we've got our work cut out for us. Apparently, neither of them are in very good situations, and it's going to be complicated trying to solve it. Plus, we've got a native who asked for our help. It's an interesting puzzle, but even though they did ask us to prioritize the kids, that's another thing we're going to be working on. Early searches for Hawk Moth came up with nothing, the guardian is… well we're going to have to have a _lot_ more time with him. Wish I could tell you more."

Rhys makes a face. "Wow. So much for in and out, huh? You going to take over as their teacher?"

"Not sure it's possible to take over for no one. But, yeah, ideally. Someone is going to have to teach them about the community. It'd be better if it were someone who knows the Paris community, but… I don't trust the guardian to do it."

"Oh, by the way." Avery says, drawing everyone's attention. "You wouldn't happen to know how involved IAME is with the schools here, would you? We've got another plan we're working on, but if we can get IAME on our side with the school system, that'd be a good option."

Rhys thinks for a moment before shaking his head. "I'm not totally sure. I'm not involved in education even in our branch. I know who would know, though. I'll ask them to text you about it, sound good?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Speaking of thanks." Morgan says. "Thanks for bringing us here. This is easily the best breakfast we've had here – and Paris has _good_ food."

Avery smiles and rests his head on his palm. "Yeah, it was recommended to us, actually. One of the locals said it was super good."

"God bless the locals."

"Hm. What've you guys been up to, anyway? Just tourist stuff?"

"Pretty much! We hit a lot of the major landmarks around here already, but we'll get the Louvre and some other museums and stuff on our return trip. We have _not_ been here long enough. Honestly, I don't want to leave."

Avery snorts. "You'll say that about every place you go to. Just be glad you're coming back before you head home. Hopefully we won't be here by then."

"We'll be here." Carter says, a bit resigned. "Even if we solve Hawk Moth in the next few days, which, not likely, we still have to make sure the heroes are set up properly. We'll probably be here all month at least."

Morgan giggles impishly. "I'm hearing… _two_ interruptions on your honeymoon?"

"Don't push your luck." Avery teases. "And remember we're still deciding. Keep pushing us and we'll ask Annie to make sure you don't see us at all."

"Noooo! You wouldn't!"

"Try me."

Carter chuckles along with Rhys at Morgan's dramatics and Avery's stoic entertaining of them. It's nice to be around friends again, even if it hasn't really been that long since they left home. Paris is exceptional and grand and awesome, but it's still unfamiliar. Rhys and Morgan, for all they are, are familiar.

Still, there's an odd tension in the air. Carter expects it, to an extent. Avery and Morgan's old relationship still causes tension from time to time. It's less that Carter or Rhys are afraid that either of their partners would cheat, or turn away from them, though Carter has to admit it's hard to completely eliminate doubt – those two _really_ liked each other back then, despite everything else about their relationship – and it's not even that they don't trust the new and improved Morgan that came back from his little soul-searching journey. It's been years since he came back. And sure, he's not an angel, but he hasn't deliberately hurt anyone since he got back. He's still wild and has a bit too little regard for the law, or just appropriate behavior in general, but he's loyal and true. Vocal, yes, about his desires, but Carter knows he won't do anything anyone's uncomfortable with. Never again.

But Morgan has earned his trust several times over at this point. Carter is more than comfortable with limited flirting, and even with him being as vocal as he is about his interest in Avery and, indeed, Carter himself. All of them know Morgan is devoted to Rhys. Another time, and they might question Morgan's intentions, but not anymore. He's earned that trust. Still. There's a reason that after several years of this they still haven't followed through. And Morgan backs off when asked, and he hasn't pushed, and that proves to Carter that his trust is well-placed.

That's why Carter knows trying to follow that thought, that similar discomfort he shouldn't rightly be feeling, is just a red herring masking what his true discomfort belies.

No, the real problem is the topic under the surface. All this talk of Morgan crashing Avery and Carter's honeymoon, and they still aren't even engaged. Carter is fairly certain he's going to be the one proposing – Avery isn't too devoted to any idea of how a marriage will play out and Carter knows he sometimes still has difficulty with deciding big things like that on his own. (Anxiety was not kind to him. Carter organizing the proposal would be a lot easier on him.) Plus, organizing something like that is very much Carter's cup of tea. Avery might expect him to do the proposing simply because he'd enjoy the planning a lot more.

The only reason Carter hasn't proposed already is because he isn't totally sure they're at a point that they want that, yet. Eventually, of course, but he doesn't know if now is the right time. Well, now, in Paris, is definitely not, but now in their relationship… he needs to talk to Avery first.

Luckily, they have time. There's no rush. Still, Carter thinks here in the bakery, after Rhys and Morgan take off, isn't a terrible time to broach the topic. "Hey, Avery?"

"Mmm?" Avery hums, glancing up to him.

"I don't know if it's Paris, or if it's them getting married or all this talk about Morgan crashing our honeymoon, but have you been thinking about what we're going to do? And, uh, when?"

Avery snorts. "It's just 'cause the topic is coming up. As romantic as Paris is, please don't propose while we're here. We're still ostensibly here for work."

"I know, I know. I promise, I wasn't planning to. But… is that something you want me to start working on? Or, do you want to propose? I kind of wanted to, but…"

"You do it." Avery says. "Surprise me, but after we get back. Not necessarily that you have to do it _at home_, but only after we leave Paris."

Carter chuckles. "So, a return trip would be fine?"

"Why not?" Avery shrugs, smiling gently. "I know you want to do the whole elaborate shindig, so I won't say this the easy way, but to answer your question, I'm ready for it if you are. After we're not dealing with two clueless kid keepers and a megalomaniac, anyway."

"Ahaha, I'll keep that in mind. And get started." Avery shakes his head fondly when Carter winks at him. "Speaking of work, though. It'll be a few hours before Iinar comes back. What do you want to do?"

"I'd like to go to the library." Avery says. "Arrel know which ones here will get me what I need?"

Carter waits for Arrel to respond, since he isn't totally sure himself. The keeper's library is connected to regular libraries around the world through old, lost, spatial magic – portals, really, but though new libraries can be connected to the keeper's library, the knowledge of how to create a new hub is long since lost. So, the people who manage such a thing sometimes create new entrances to the keeper's library, often in normal libraries, for any keepers to use, as part of an old deal they made with the kwami. Since there are keepers in Paris, and have been for a few months, not to mention Paris being an old and popular city, Carter would be surprised if there aren't any entrances here. That said, Arrel has never been to Paris before, much less recently. There's no reason he should know where exactly their library connects to. "I can sniff one out." Arrel says softly from the hood of Carter's jacket. "The librarians mark them, too, and with Avery's powers he might even be able to tell himself."

After checking that no one is eavesdropping, Carter whispers back. "Just go ahead and stick with him. You can talk about it directly." He feels a rustle, and then Arrel zips below the table to tuck himself inside Avery's shirt. "So, we'll separate for a bit?" Carter asks Avery.

"Yeah. You'll have better luck looking around the city. You mentioned talking to Britt, right?"

"Mhmm. She's pretty much the only lead we have right now, and Anais seems close enough to her. She'll probably help."

"Alright. We're about done here, yeah? You ready to head out?"

"Yes, sir." They stand and exit the bakery, waving to the kind lady behind the counter, Marinette's mother (she makes a good impression on Carter, for as much as customer service counts for that), and separate on the street outside the bakery after Avery looks up local libraries on his phone.

For his part, Carter follows Anais' directions to find Britt, and ends up outside a small apartment. The lady who answers the door is pretty, but severe. Her sharp expression, wary and fierce, framed by choppy hair almost the same color as Anais', pins him in the doorway. It's not a terribly uncommon attitude, this distrust of strange men at their door, so it doesn't faze Carter overmuch, still, she's got the features to make that expression harsher than many. Almost reminds him of Avery's mother.

"Hello!" Carter chirps. "I'm looking for Britt. Her friend Anais sent me."

There's a shock of recognition on the woman's face, and then the firm scowl find its bearings again. "And who's asking?" She asks.

"Carter Wroden. I met Anais recently and agreed to help her with a question she had."

The lady narrows her eyes. "I was expecting two of you."

"Ah. My partner. I assume that means you're Britt? I can speak freely, then?" Britt nods once. "He's looking into what manner of magic might have created the situation Anais is in. I'm here to figure out what happened to her while she was still alive. She said you were the first person to find her after she lost her memory?"

There's another long moment before Britt finally opens the door and gestures him inside. "Not sure how much I can help you." She says. "I don't know anything about who she was. I don't even know anything about spirits." She guides him to a sofa and waves for him to sit, so he does, and then she moves towards the open kitchen to put on a pot of tea. "You want any?"

"Yes, please." Carter says. "And that's fine. I'm not expecting you to know everything. But you're the one closest to this aside from Anais herself, so it's worth investigating."

"I'm not worth investigating." Britt says sharply. "I was just taking a walk by the river and she was there. I don't know any more than that."

"Maybe not." Carter says. "But another perspective can tell you a lot. I'd like to hear the whole story, if you're willing to tell it."

Britt sighs, and doesn't say much else until the tea is ready and she rejoins Carter on the sofa. "Fine, then. As I said, I was just taking a walk. Saw a poor girl lying there on the riverbank. Knew she was a spirit right away, and that means no one else was likely to notice, much less give her a hand."

"It was good of you to help her. Not everyone would."

Britt shrugs. "Anais told you where, I assume. At the water's edge, almost right under the bridge near that school. I don't know anything about spirits, so I assumed the memory loss was normal. I assumed the poor girl jumped and her real body is somewhere in the Seine now. I did what I could for her, and then asked my friend what more could be done. He told me about spirits normally remembering things."

Carter hums. "Can I ask who this friend is?"

"Gerard. He lives nearby in one of those fancy mansions around the way."

"Gerard…" Carter murmurs, furrowing his brow in thought. "This isn't Gerard Garnier, by any chance, is it?"

Britt blinks. "Yeah, actually. You know him?"

"I know someone he knows. He ever mention Johann?"

"Never shuts up about him. Old buddies, I think. You know Johann?"

Carter laughs. "I'm pretty good friends with him, actually. Johann's library has saved me on more than a few jobs like this one. I owe him a lot. He's real generous with me. Good guy."

The edge in Britt's eyes softens. "Yeah, Gerard makes him sound that way, too." She sighs again. "You really should just talk to him. Gerard said he was going to look into Anais' memory loss. He never did find anything, but maybe if you work together, something will come up?"

"I'll definitely have to talk to him." Carter agrees. "In the meantime, though, would you keep telling me about Anais?"

Britt sips her tea and thinks for a moment. "Well, she's a bit strange, isn't she? I don't know enough about spirits to say what's normal or not, but I thought it was odd how fixated she got on those kids. The heroes. The first akuma and she was running after them, angry as all hell and swearing up and down that she'll put an end to Hawk Moth herself. Barely even knew anything about it all before she was on the warpath."

"Huh. So, you know the heroes' identities, I assume?"

"I know their names. Anais tried to convince me to go talk to them a few times, but I think that's none of my business."

"Hah. I'm sure they appreciate that."

Carter coaxes a few stories out of Britt, little anecdotes about Anais, but gets very little more that'll help him figure out who she was. From what Britt tells him, Anais hasn't changed much since she lost her memory, so Carter's own experiences with her tells him what to look for in personality (though he can't assume she acted the same before she lost her memory. Memories shape a person.), and aside from the bridge, there isn't much in location. That said, if Gerard was looking into it, there's a good chance he has something that can give Carter another lead.

He doesn't stay long at Britt's place, and since he has time, he goes promptly to Gerard's manor. Unlike Britt, Gerard doesn't have forewarning that he's coming, but that doesn't matter so much considering Gerard is the one who Johann told Carter to seek out. "For anything you need," he said. Johann even said that they should stay at Gerard's place. "It's certainly big enough!" He said.

It certainly is big enough, despite trophies of what Carter assumes are many adventures around the world littering the place. And, once Carter meets Gerard, he has a feeling that Johann was a lot less out of bounds than Carter assumed offering someone else's home for an extended trip to another country. In fact, one of the first things Gerard asks him, after introductions, is if he has a place to stay and if he and Avery would like to stay with him while they're in Paris. "Any friend of Johann's is a friend of mine!" Gerard proclaims loudly, before starting on a long anecdote about an old hunting trip he and Johann went on together.

If Carter weren't already used to Johann, it would be quite overwhelming. It's really no surprise the two are friends. Personality alone, the two could be carbon-copies of each other.

Luckily, that makes Gerard very easy to work with. His open and welcoming personality, plus Carter's in with him in his connection to Johann, makes the whole thing run smooth as butter. A little too smooth, actually, since much like his visits to Johann's home, Carter is just as distracted as Gerard is in the interesting antiques everywhere and the stories that go with them that Gerard is all too happy to tell. Without Avery or Iinar to keep him on track, Carter has a bad habit of running off on tangents even without those distractions. Pair him with an eccentric millionaire with a lifetime of adventures and a library full of books on magic that he's collected over that lifetime? Carter could sit in that library for _days_.

That offer to stay here is remarkably tempting. Unfortunately, though, Carter does have a job to do. He won't be surprised if he ends up spending the night here a few times, deep in research, relevant to the situation or not (Lord knows he does that at Johann's place enough already.), but he can't make this his home while he's in Paris. He'd never get anything done.

Besides, he likes his privacy with Avery. That's worth more than any library.

Ultimately, Carter _does_ manage to ask Gerard about Anais' situation. Gerard is very forthcoming with all his notes from his own investigation, but a quick scan through them don't tell Carter much that he doesn't already know. There are a few ideas and theories about what might have caused her to lose her memory, but the investigation as to who she was when she was alive stops where she was found. At the bridge. Without any more to go on in that department, Gerard thought to take the other approach, and figure out who she was by figuring out what happened to her.

Carter then spends the rest of the day with Gerard, sharing stories with each other, and then after lunch he tackles Gerard's library, spending a great deal of time simply admiring the volumes, getting an idea of what knowledge this room contains, and then a great deal more time with a book in his hands.

It's Arrel's appearance, many hours later, that spurs Carter to move from there. At Arrel's sudden appearance, Carter finally checks the clock. Only after realizing that it's well after time for school to end does he return the book to its place and prepare to leave.

"Madame Couffaine invited us over at six." Arrel reports. Since he knows, that means Iinar must have returned to Avery. Carter would like to think Arrel would come straight to him after that, but considering Carter has just enough reasonable time to say good-bye to Gerard and find his way to the Couffaine houseboat, he has a feeling that Arrel saw him deep in his reading and simply waited until interrupting him became necessary. It wouldn't be the first time.

It's a nice walk to the river, guided by Arrel and his phone, of course. He doesn't quite have time to stop to admire everything he'd like to, but he marks buildings and landmarks in his head as he goes so that he can examine them more closely later. Paris really is a beautiful city. It's almost a shame that Avery forbids a proposal here. Carter can see it, honestly, but he does agree that it'd ultimately be a mistake.

Not that Avery would say no if the proposal isn't up to snuff or anything. No, if it were entirely up to Avery, he would have just said yes when Carter asked him about it earlier today and they'd go straight into the wedding planning. (And then he'd say to just elope and go on a trip for a honeymoon – Carter does agree with that to a point. Their wedding budget should go more towards the honeymoon than the ceremony. They'd both enjoy a longer trip without keeper duties much more than any elaborate ceremony they could cook up. That doesn't mean Carter doesn't want a ceremony at all, though.) That's just the kind of person Avery is. Not much for formal events. Not against them, of course. If he had a problem with a fancy proposal and ceremony Carter would never force him into it, but if he alone were deciding it, he wouldn't put any priority on it.

Carter on the other hand takes a lot of joy in planning, so arranging a romantic and meaningful moment to propose is _so_ his thing. And the ceremony is half "living childhood daydreams" and half for all their family and friends who would kill them if they just eloped and got out of Dodge without giving them a chance to fuss over the wedding. Knowing their friends, they'll take over the whole thing if he lets them. The worst part is that with Johann no doubt eager for it, money won't even be an issue. Carter will _have_ to keep an eye on them if only to ensure that they don't blow it up into a huge event – he knows for sure that both Avery and he will prefer a smaller ceremony, cost notwithstanding.

"Carter. Over here."

Carter's attention snaps to Avery, waiting by the water's edge, with a boat not too much further down the way. "Hey, love." Carter greets him with a kiss. "I ran into Gerard – Johann's guy – he was actually investigating Anais' thing, too. Got copies of his notes with me, so you'll want to look through those."

Avery frowns and nods. "I'll check them out when we get home. Ready to meet the Couffaines?"

Carter eyes the boat again and nods, leading the way to the gangplank. Iinar zooms out of Avery's shirt into the boat, and it's not long until a woman and two teenagers appear on deck. Carter and Avery are quickly waved aboard and led to a small table below deck where they take their seats. There are only three chairs, but the space is small and the two kids seem content to sit in the background. They're certainly near enough to hear, and near enough to engage if they like, but they situate themselves just a bit out of the way.

"So," Anarka says, "you're the two new heroes I've been hearing so much about."

Carter chuckles. Word travels fast, it seems. "We consider ourselves historians, actually." He says casually.

"Even better!" Anarka cheers. "You're here to help with Hawk Moth? What can I do for you?"

Carter shares a look with Avery. As easy as it would be to spill the whole truth, Ladybug and Chat Noir will definitely not appreciate them going around sharing the heroes' identities, even if it is only within the community. They have to be a little cleverer than that if they want to interfere in these kid's lives. "Well, when we were researching the situation here, _Collège Francois Dupont_ came up a lot. That's, ah," Carter looks over to the girl, Juleka, "your school, right?"

Juleka nods, and they also get a confirmation from Anarka. "Yeah, there are a lot of akuma there." Anarka agrees. "You think Hawk Moth is, what, targeting it or something?"

"Not necessarily." Carter says. "Even the attacks that don't occur at the school are all in this area of the city. We think it's more likely that the school is just a place where the kind of emotion Hawk Moth needs pops up more than average, and this school in particular because it happens to be close to where he's working out of, not that he has any intent towards the school. That said, we've been asking around, and a few things have come to our attention about the school that we're hoping can be solved and reduce the student's risk of being akumatized. We're working on Hawk Moth, of course, but even if he weren't here, these practices aren't good for the students. It'd be in everyone's best interest to fix the issues."

"Oh, now? What kind of things are we talking about here?" Anarka's eyes narrow dangerously. "I haven't heard of any nasty stuff going on there."

"Corruption." Carter says. "For a start. Plus, bullying that's not being acknowledged. Misguided teaching practices that apologize for those bullies and places the responsibility of their improvement on the victims instead."

Juleka pales. "You're talking about Mlle. Bustier." She murmurs. That all but confirms everything they've heard. To both Carter and to Anarka, apparently, with how her expression darkens.

Carter smiles encouragingly and nods. "She's part of the problem. As I understand it, the principal isn't helping, either."

Anarka growls, looking about ready to march to the school already. "You deal with these kinds of things, yeah? This is what you do without a Hawk Moth to fight?"

"Partly." Carter says. "We focus on the magic community. Especially those who don't have access to the magical education necessary to keep themselves safe while they explore their powers. Our job is actually primarily as teachers ourselves. We have classes and everything, open to the community. Past that, as I said, we're historians. We learn and collect everything we can, so we can better share that knowledge."

"Hm. So you're going to want to put a stop to all this happening at Dupont, yeah? To give Hawk Moth less to work with? What can I do? I'm not going to let them hurt my daughter."

Carter smiles. That makes everything a lot easier. She's cooperative, and eager to help. "To limit Hawk Moth's options, yes, but also just for the kids. We're hoping that talking to your daughter's teacher will solve that problem. From what we hear, she's well-meaning. If we explain what she's doing wrong, there's a good chance she'll make an effort to fix it. As for the principal, our friend put us in contact with IAME here in Paris. We're still in the process of figuring things out, but we're hoping some more official action will scare him enough to stop the corruption. Worst comes to worst, we figure out a way to expose everything he's doing. That'll get him investigated by the proper non-magical authorities."

"If you want to help," Avery says, "in most cases like this, it's a student coming to us for help. Usually someone we teach, asking for help in their regular school. We typically pose as relatives for them, or something similar, and talk to the teacher directly. A spirit friend of ours has been investigating the akuma, so she knows the school pretty well. She said Juleka here is the best option we have if that's how we plan on doing it."

Anarka taps her chin, nodding. "Aye, you could be cousins. Their da's off at sea, so if I'm busy some visiting cousins could have a good excuse to go in with her instead."

"Or," Carter says, "you could play up that we're teachers ourselves, and heard some troubling things from Juleka, if she's okay with that." He looks over to Juleka for her silent nod of approval. "And you don't need to be busy. If you want to be there, you can."

The idea of being there herself clearly appeals to Anarka, with how she lights up so wickedly. "I'll call Caline right now."

"Oh, uh," Carter stops her before she can go to make the call. It's a bit of a stretch, considering this family doesn't know them at all, but Carter figures he'll ask anyway. "If you and Juleka are both comfortable with it, could Avery talk with her alone for a moment? Just for any other instances, other concerning things that we should know about and address before we go in. As he said, it's usually a student coming to us for help. The more we know about what's happening there, especially as it pertains to her, since she's the one we'll be talking about, the easier this will be. I understand you don't know us, so if you both would prefer having that conversation together, that's fine, but we typically talk to kids one on one – which is why it'd be Avery alone – just because we've seen a lot of cases where kids aren't… entirely comfortable exposing those kinds of things in front of their parents. It's nothing personal, I promise. We don't know your family. It's just something we've started doing by convention."

Anarka laughs loudly and just looks to her kids. "Hey, didn't you two have questions about your magic, anyways?" She glances over to Carter. "I can't help them as much as I'd like, since I'm not magical myself. You all go on and talk. I'll call Caline."

When she takes off, it quickly becomes apparent that Juleka is very shy. It takes her brother's coaxing to get her to really open up about school, and Carter hears some very concerning stories, notably one about picture day. Once she gets talking, though, she gets more comfortable and the brother, Luka, pulls Carter away, letting Juleka and Avery continue their conversation.

Luka has questions about his magic, he says. Carter isn't surprised. If Anarka isn't magical, that means their father most likely is, but Anarka said he's off at sea. Who knows how long that's been the case? The two seem relatively responsible and competent, but with no reliable source to turn to at home, they're bound to have loads of questions.

Avery is good with kids. He doesn't talk as much as Carter does, so he's a better listener, and kids like being listened to. Carter trusts him to learn everything they'll need. And Luka has questions of his own, and Carter is more than happy to share his answers.

Things like what having selkie blood means, how it'll affect them. Not too much, shapeshifters like selkies are only biologically compatible with humans because they turn, biologically, _into_ humans, so Luka is hardly going to sprout fins or webbing or anything like that. It could affect how their magic manifests, Carter tells him. Even spellcaster's magic isn't all the same. Some magic likes transfiguration, other magic likes water, or the earth, or the moon, or communication. There are as many specializations as people, but their natural magic inclinations don't necessarily determine their capabilities. Just what comes easiest to them.

Things like why a spell he's trying isn't working. He's missing a key ingredient necessary for that type of spellcasting. Things like what a transfiguration feels like. It depends, both on what he's transfigured into and on who's casting the transfiguration. Carter reminds him never to transfigure on an empty stomach, and that transfigurations can be a lot of fun, but are always dangerous, so don't stay transformed too long. And to remember to have a wildspeech spell already prepared if he doesn't have more people than just himself and his sister to cast the spell after the transfiguration. He doesn't bother telling Luka to be careful, or to not do it. Carter tries not to do that, as a rule. Instead, he gives him all the information to do it safely, and lays out the risks, so Luka can make his own decision.

Things like what a transfiguration sark is – Carter is surprised that Luka even knows about those, they're exceptionally rare – and how they're related to selkie's own transfigurations. Sarks are inspired by the selkies, and historically the selkies' pelts are typically considered the first transfiguration sarks, and selkie pelts nowadays are often called sarks colloquially (that's probably how he found out about them, Carter thinks), though by definition sarks are created by spellcasters and are more broad, working for anyone who puts one on, whereas selkies' are natural and specific to the individual.

Things like what the difference between using a sark and using regular magic is. The energy expenditure associated with transfigurations is the same, but sarks largely eliminate the danger of botched spellcasting, so long as the sark is correctly constructed. They're more useful if one plans to transfigure many times for whatever reason, as they're reliable and generally don't need the same time a spellcaster does to recharge, and are most often used by casters in marine environments, if they plan on diving a lot for research or for whatever other job they have to do under the waves. Sarks also are much safer to use alone. Self-transfigurations are exceptionally difficult, especially full-body ones. Not necessarily for the actual skill in transfiguring oneself, but because full transfigurations are magically taxing at best, and transfigurations are also extremely physically taxing, so to have the toll of both on yourself is generally not the best idea. Sarks ease the magical toll, so transfiguring alone is a lot more reasonable.

Luka is quiet, patient, calm and composed. He's a good listener. And transfigurations aren't all he asks Carter about. Once they're done with that topic, they move on to music, and how Luka feels it integrates into his magic. Carter explains spellcasting conduits and focuses as best he can.

When they're done, Luka thanks him for his time and leads him back to the others, asking if they could talk again about more questions he has on other topics. Carter readily agrees, of course, but considering Luka is still a minor in a family that he's only met today, he ensures Anarka knows before giving Luka his phone number to let him contact him anytime he needs. He gives his number to Anarka, too, telling her to feel free to ask him anything she needs. He would, anyway, but he can appreciate how difficult raising two casters as a non-magic can be. She needs a reliable place to learn about all the strange goings-on that her kids are likely to get into. If she decides to trust Carter and Avery to be that place, they're more than willing to provide.

* * *

"Oh. Howdy." Avery says casually. "I'm glad you took us up on our offer."

Carter closes the door behind him before leaning to look over Avery's shoulder at whoever has joined them in their apartment. "Oh! Hi, Chat Noir. Good to see you! Want some tea? I'll put on a pot."

Chat Noir stands awkwardly in the living room, fiddling with the end of his tail. "I, uh, yes, please? You're Carter and Avery, right?"

Carter meets Avery's eyes, accepting the half-hearted roll that says "I got this" and merely patting his shoulder and kissing his cheek before slipping past him to the kitchen. Avery will help Chat Noir with whatever he needs. "That's right, Chat. I assume you got our message about learning your identity?"

"Y-yeah."

Carter leaves them to it while he prepares the tea. Avery will help Chat Noir get more comfortable, and then figure out why he's here. Carter isn't necessary for that. Tea, though! Tea is necessary for guests. He hums a quiet tune as he waits for the pot to boil.

It's not long before he's carrying cups out to the living room, where he finds Chat Noir frowning at the ground. Both he and Avery gratefully accept the offered tea. "So, Chat Noir, what did you need?"

Chat blushes. "I, uh, wanted to ask about… how do you… Uh, this is a weird question, I just- how do- how do I know if a relationship is toxic?"

Carter shares a look with Avery. "Did you have a specific one in mind?" Avery asks gently.

"No- yes- maybe. I just- your story got me thinking abo- and I… oh man, I don't know. I'm just… confused."

"That's okay." Avery says. "It can be hard to sort through things sometimes. Why don't we do that together?"

Chat fiddles some more with his tail. "How?"

"Well, to simplify things, it's probably not toxic if you like it. That's not to say that anything that frustrates you is toxic, but that's a good place to start looking. What's the last thing that happened, with anyone, that _really_ frustrated you?"

Chat Noir is quiet for a long time, just sipping his tea, before finally he says mutely, "Ladybug, I suppose. I didn't even know this guardian existed until you guys brought him up. I just… feel like she doesn't trust me."

Avery smiles and nods. "Ah, yeah. That is frustrating. It's hard being the one left out of secrets."

"It is! I just… why doesn't she trust me like I do her?"

"I'm afraid I can't honestly answer that." Avery says. "The only conversation I've had with Ladybug was last night, and you saw that. But I do know some about that secret in particular – with the guardian. Would you like to hear the details?"

Chat Noir's eyes go wide. "You- you mean you'll tell me?!"

"Of course. You're a keeper. It's only right that you know the role that the guardian has played so far." Chat Noir looks at Avery with the stars in his eyes, almost childishly begging him to tell him everything. Avery chuckles. "From what we've heard, from the guardian and from Anais, who you know has been following the both of you, Ladybug only met the guardian when her kwami got sick. Even then Ladybug didn't know who he is until Ladybug's kwami decided to tell her about him."

Chat Noir scowls. "Why didn't either of them say anything? I would have liked to know we had a guardian!"

"Ladybug didn't say anything because the guardian made her promise not to." Avery says. "I don't know her, so I won't pretend that I know what she was thinking when she was keeping that secret, but if she did really want to tell you, the guardian put her in a position where she is forced to either keep quiet, and leave you out, and if it comes up to ask you to trust her without question, or to break the trust of the man who gave you both your Miraculous. Little as I'd like to call him such, he's a teacher for her, of sorts, at least after he accepted Ladybug knowing about him. Make sense?"

Chat Noir covers his mouth. "So… oh." His ears flatten down on his hanging head. "So, she didn't have a choice. Not really. And our identities are the same, aren't they? Plagg isn't… very responsible, so I guess I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to ignore him, but… to Ladybug it'd be betraying her kwami's trust, wouldn't it?"

"Probably." Avery says quietly. "Does that make her behavior make a bit more sense to you?"

He nods emphatically. "Yes! Oh, man, and I was so angry with her about it! I'm such a terrible partner! I should have been able to figure all this out! I can't believe I didn-"

"Hey." Avery touches his shoulder carefully, to stop him from spiraling any further. His voice is just sharp enough to definitively grab Chat's attention. "It's not your fault. Everyone needs help seeing other perspectives. They wouldn't _be_ other perspectives if you could see every one, would they?"

Chat chuckles sheepishly. "I guess not." He sighs. "Thanks. That… clears up a lot, actually. Can I… this is ano- another thing that's been bothering me. The ladybug and black cat, we're yin and yang, aren't we?"

Avery frowns. "Are you?"

"I thought so! But… you," Chat Noir locks eyes with Carter, "you said that the kwami's relationships don't affect ours? Is that true? How can we balance each other without being a match?"

Carter chuckles softly. "The simple answer? Through work. The kwami are independent beings. The bonding with them does meld us, to an extent, but only in the sense that they leave their magic inside us. It's… more like marking us than anything else."

"Like a bear marks it's territory." Avery adds, smirking.

"Sort of. Magic doesn't like itself. It doesn't live well in other reservoirs of magic. That's why Hawk Moth can't be a magical being. That's why _we_ aren't. The kwami's magic wouldn't work, or would get very unpredictable, in someone who already uses magic. So, the magic the kwami leave inside us 'marks' us. To an extent, it protects us. Especially from invasive magic." Carter hums. "What's a good example?"

"When Carter was bitten by a werecat," Avery says, "the ailuranthropy – that's the technical term for the curse that makes werecats what they are – struggled to take hold in him. It bought him time for our friends to make a purging charm that would get rid of the ailuranthropy and stop him from turning. There were other factors, too. He was transfigured, and he was transformed when he was bit, all of that bought him time, but his bond with Arrel was another piece that contributed to us having as much time as we had."

Carter nods. "It's also why the bite was such a scare. If the curse did take hold, it would have rejected Arrel's magic and I couldn't be a keeper anymore."

Chat stares, wide-eyed. Avery nudges Carter's leg before saying. "I know I helped, but that was a bit tangential, wasn't it? We were talking about you and Ladybug being in balance."

Chat nods. "Yeah. I mean- that's very interesting, but I'm… not sure what it has to do with my question." He says that like a question, but Carter decides to ignore it.

"Aha, sorry. My point is, the kwami _do_ mark us, but that doesn't fit us into any larger scheme. If your kwami do embody this dualism idea, this 'two halves of a whole' thing that it sounds like you're thinking, then that's strictly the kwami. Part of a keeper's job is to act as an… ambassador, of sorts, for the kwami's principle. But more accurately, we're acting as ambassadors of the kwami themselves. Make sense?"

Chat Noir makes a face. "What's a… principle?"

Carter blinks. "Oh, boy. Sorry. Sometimes I forget that your guardian didn't even do the bare minimum to teach you. The kwami's principle, and by extension yours, is the thing that your kwami represents. I am the keeper of patience, for instance. That which has its goal in sight, but knows not to reach for it, and recognizes when to move."

Avery nods along. "And I'm the keeper of liminality. That which refuses destiny and cannot be defined."

"Principles are most accurately described with a phrase." Carter says. "For simplicity's sake, the phrase is often replaced with a single word. And, of course, those words may be subject to interpretation, or odd translation, so for that reason it's perfectly reasonable to have multiple kwami of patience. That's why the phrase is important. Do you know what your principle is?"

Chat Noir frowns. "Didn't you call me the keeper of destruction? Is that it?"

"With Ladybug as creation. That is a reasonable summary, from my understanding, though I admit I don't know your phrases."

"Bringing it all back around." Avery says, smirking. "What Carter is trying to say, to answer your original question about you being balanced without being magically matched, is that as the keeper of destruction, you should be _striving_ to balance out the keeper of creation. Just like she should be doing for you. I've done more research on your Miraculous than Carter has, and the concept of dualism and balancing each other comes up pretty often, but it's always in the context of the _ideal_ pair. It's not what you are, it's what you're trying to be. Make sense?"

Carter readily admits that Avery's explanation, without Carter's distractions and tangents, strikes home with Chat quickly. _Plus, Chat is paying him much better attention. Maybe I'm just confusing him, though. Either way, I think maybe Avery should handle him more than me._ Even as Carter talks, Chat glances to Avery, as if for clarification. That's usually a good sign that the student prefers Avery – looking to him rather than asking Carter to pause or clarify. At least, so long as the student is comfortable, it is. If they're not, they probably just don't want to ask plain and simple. As it is, Chat lights up when Avery simplifies the matter for him. "Oh! Yeah, okay! But… wait, so we're _trying_ to be soulmates? Oh! We're choosing to be soulmates!"

Avery laughs. "Not so much. Drop the soulmate thing. Dualism isn't in all aspects. You're the keepers of creation and destruction. You balance each other such that one doesn't overpower the other. Even in balance, your principle shouldn't dictate how you treat each other. You could be perfectly balanced enemies, and that would satisfy the dualism ideal. Or just best friends. You could even be complete strangers. You started as that, and you weren't any less keepers than you are now. Truth be told, no keeper perfectly embodies their principle. You shouldn't expect yourself to perfectly balance Ladybug, nor should you compromise who you are to fit her. You're your own person, with your own agency. You're not tied to her."

"Oh." Chat droops. "Oh. So, I just… I've been stupid this whole time. I've been bothering Ladybug over something that isn't even… real."

Avery shifts to touch Chat's shoulder. "Your feelings are real. I'd wager a guess that most people fall in love without it being defined by magic." He says it teasingly and manages to get Chat to smile. "I want you to listen to me, okay? Everything about your relationship with Ladybug is very real and is very much defined by your actions and your feelings. Magic may not play a part in it, but that doesn't make anything you feel or do invalid. That said, do you think this new perspective will change the way you act?"

Chat bites his lip. "Should it? I… I still love her. You said that's real. So… so we can still be together."

"Maybe." Avery says. "But if you aren't _meant_ for each other. If your getting together is something that is defined entirely and only by the two of you, what's missing from what you just told me?"

Chat furrows his brow. "I love her… that's real… so… oh. _Oh_. Oh, god. I… I've been completely disregarding her feelings, haven't I? I was just so… so confident that we were destined that…"

"I know." Avery says softly. "I know. But you know now, right? So, what are you going to do?"

"She told me to stop calling her bugaboo. And… and flirting during battle. But… she doesn't seem to mind, sometimes? Is it… just during the stressful parts?"

"If I might advise?" Avery says. "I'd just talk to her about it. Ask her straight out what you've been doing that bothers her. And listen this time."

"I will! I'll do it as soon as we have a moment free!" Chat grins. "I'll be the best partner in the world!"

"I know you will." Avery says, earning Chat's beaming smile turned to him. "And while you're here, and we're doing this anyway, I did have something I wanted to ask you about. Another thing that I worry might bother you."

Chat blinks. "Oh? What is it?"

"Your dad."

Chat Noir immediately curls in on himself, closing up and turning his gaze to the ground. "I- Father is just- he's…"

As he struggles for words, Avery casts Carter a meaningful look. Carter nods. This is something that Avery will have to talk with Chat about alone. It might not happen tonight, but Avery will show him he can be comfortable enough to share. Having two adults watching over them alone is rarely the most comfortable a child will be for opening up about personal things like that. "I know the basics." Avery says. "And quite frankly, it's concerning to me. Carter needs to step out to talk to our kwami. We still have a few things to plan for tomorrow, but if you still have time, will you sit with me and tell me what, if anything, frustrates you at home? Maybe I can help?"

Carter smiles encouragingly and excuses himself when Chat looks at him. He heads off to the bedroom, trusting in Avery and in Chat Noir, that they'll get things figured out. He lays down on the bed, giggling with Arrel, thinking, _I wonder if Marinette is going to stop by, sometime, too?_


	5. An Interesting Theory

"Mlle. Bustier, I'm not saying your philosophy is wrong." Carter is on the verge of pleading at this point. The calm certainty this lady holds herself with is astounding, and her talent for twisting words even more so. He's only half-certain at this point that she's not doing it on purpose. Honestly, for the first time since he's gotten to Paris, he's starting to doubt his grasp of the language, if only because he _specifically_ avoids placing blame of any sort directly onto her. Even if the blame lies with them, nine times out of ten if the one he's trying to help feels attacked, they'll close off to discussion, so he can't make them _feel_ like they're at fault regardless of if they actually are.

The guardian not included, of course. That's a special case. With the guardian, Carter is coming in from a position of clear authority approaching a man who committed unforgivable crimes. He needs to know there's no acceptable defense for what he did, so Carter has to be aggressive to avoid letting that defense get set up. Plus, Carter isn't really trying to teach him anything but consequences. With Mlle. Bustier, he's trying to better he. This here is a teacher who truly wants to do right by her students. So, if she keeps feeling like the victim here, he _has _to be saying things more aggressively than he means. Right?

Considering even Juleka is starting to look exasperated, Carter thinks he's still got the right of it.

"In fact, I agree! Promoting peace in a classroom is a very good thing, I'm just trying to voice some concerns over how some of the kids are interpreting this philosophy."

"I assure you, all of my students understand what's expected of them. Ask Juleka, if you have doubts."

"We have!" Anarka roars. "That's _why_ we're concerned!"

Mlle. Bustier plasters a pleasant smile on her face. At least she isn't losing her cool. Carter can respect that, for what it's worth. "Juleka, why don't you explain the rules of the classroom for your family?"

Juleka looks nervously between Mlle. Bustier and Anarka. After a too-long pause, she mumbles, "Be kind to your classmates. Set a good example. If there's a problem, take it to Mlle. Bustier instead of causing a disturbance in the class."

"Does that sound unreasonable?" Mlle. Bustier asks, satisfied.

"Unless the problem is Chloé." Juleka continues unbidden, tone bitter. "Then you ignore it because she's 'not that bad' and just doesn't understand the meaning of love so we can't force her to change."

"Not that bad?" Carter echoes. "Is that what she's saying about the class bully?"

"Chloé is not a bully!" Mlle. Busier protests. "And Juleka…" Juleka quickly curls into herself. "You know how important the rest of the class' example is to Chloé. That kind of tone will only reinforce Chloé's behavior, not encourage her to change."

"Juleka is allowed to be frustrated with the girl who bullies her." Carter says quickly, disregarding Mlle. Bustier for a moment to ensure his words strike home with Juleka. "All of the students are."

"But if they allow themselves to get upset, they could attract Hawk Moth." Mlle. Bustier counters. As if her whole class sans Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves haven't been akumatized. Carter stifles a flare of rage at the way Juleka curls up even further when she says that. "And it will only feed bad behavior in retaliation. We can't force Chloé to change, so we have to set good examples for her to show her what love means."

"I agree." Carter says. He lets Mlle. Bustier look satisfied for just a moment before he continues. "Example like that may be the only way to get this bully to change her behavior. That said, Miss Bourgeois' growth is not Juleka's, or the other student's, responsibility. They endure her bullying regularly. Do you understand how bullying affects kids, Mlle. Bustier?"

Mlle. Bustier looks a bit affronted at the thought. "Of course, I do! I'm a teacher! That's why I take every effort to ensure there's none of that in my classroom."

"I believe you." Carter says. "You're doing everything you know to do. But will you listen, and allow me to guide you through what we have in front of us?" He pauses, watching her expectantly. After a breath, he says, "My cousin told me she's being bullied. She also told me she's not the only one. That means there's a few options here, either Juleka is lying to us – you don't believe that, do you?"

"Of course not! Juleka is just young. She doesn't understand that there are people much worse than Chloé."

Carter hums, unconvinced. "I wouldn't be so sure. I think she's well aware of that. But just because there are worse people out there, that doesn't make what Miss Bourgeois is doing okay. And just because there are people out there with worse problems doesn't make everything Juleka goes through less painful, or less important. Juleka says she's bullied. And she's not lying, so that means, mistaken or not, she _feels like_ she's being bullied. I know teenage drama, and even bullying, can seem a bit inconsequential to us as adults, but that's because we've been through it and know how to deal with it. As teachers, we see it all the time. It's old news to us. But the kids are _living_ it. It's not nothing to them, and when you tell them that there are worse people out there, so they shouldn't overreact or blow things out of proportion, you teach them that they can't talk to you about this issue."

Mlle. Bustier gasps. "My students can come to me with anything! They love me, they know that I'm always willing to help."

"Unless the problem is Chloé." Carter says. "You heard your student say that just now. They know they can come to you for anything, _except_ if the problem is Miss Bourgeois."

Mlle. Bustier flinches back as if stricken, expression quickly turning to horror as she realizes that he's right.

"I'm sure you know this already, but the best way to ensure your students trust you is to take them seriously. Your students do love you, so I have no doubt that you're an excellent teacher. But on this one issue, this bully, your students have been feeling like you aren't taking them seriously when they try to talk to you about it. Downplaying the problem Miss Bourgeois is in the classroom in order to avoid conflict only makes them feel like you think avoiding conflict is more important than addressing the problem."

Mlle. Bustier's head hangs low as she lets the implications wash over her. "I… I never meant to make them feel like…"

"I know you didn't." Carter says. "That's why we wanted to talk to you. Avoiding akumatization _is_ important, but that's exactly why we have to face problems like this directly, and deal with them in a healthy way. Juleka and her classmates are victims of Miss Bourgeois' bullying. Implying that they shouldn't feel frustrated, or angry, over how they've been treated is invalidating and will only make those feelings worse, and they'll be at _more_ risk of akumatization. If measures are taken to address Miss Bourgeois' behavior, your students will know you're taking the problem seriously. Even if punishing Miss Bourgeois won't change her, you can still take measures to ensure your other students aren't forced to put up with her."

Mlle. Bustier spends a long moment in thought before sighing. "You're right. I… haven't been doing everything I should have. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I promise, I'll do everything I can to fix this."

"Good." Carter smiles. "I'm sure my cousin is in good hands with you."

Mlle. Bustier gives him a smile, and Anarka has a few words with her as well, notably about the picture day fiasco, but it quickly comes to light that the driving force behind that event was more the principal's rushing everything than Mlle. Bustier herself. Still, it shouldn't have fallen on another student to make Juleka feel so much as seen. On picture day.

Actually, he's going to have to investigate that "picture jinx" Juleka mentioned. Now that he's thinking about it, he wonders if maybe there wasn't any truth to that theory. He doesn't know of any magic of that sort off the top of his head but he's certainly seen stranger. It might be an interesting thing to occupy his mind with, if he ever has time away from the Hawk Moth and Anais investigations.

Regardless, Mlle. Bustier has learned and Carter leaves satisfied that she'll at least try. He mentions to Juleka to keep an eye on her, but he believes that she'll fix the problem. Hopefully, this'll take a load off of Marinette's shoulders. And now that that's done with, it's time to get back to work on finding Hawk Moth.

"_Mein Lieber_." Avery says gently, when they part ways with Anarka and Juleka.

"Hm? What's up, _Bärchen_?"

"Quick update. I went over Gerard's notes, and compared them with mine. I've got a theory, but it's a bit far-fetched. I want more info before I share it."

Carter hums. "Understood. Need anything from me?"

"No. Not yet." Avery worries his lip. "But I thought you might want to tag along with me today. I've got to go see the guardian. Then Chat, but I'm talking about the guardian part."

"The guardian?" Carter raises his brow. Chat Noir is no surprise. He's come by almost every evening since the first. He clicks better with Avery, responds more to how Avery talks than how Carter does, so by and large Carter lets Avery handle Chat. It's good to know they're meeting up again today, though.

But the guardian is a different matter. The only reason Avery will need to see the guardian for the investigation into Anais is if he thinks a Miraculous could be behind her condition. But… Carter isn't sure why a Miraculous would ever do that. He doesn't know the specifics of every Miraculous in the box, but surely even the guardian would never purposely remove some poor spirit's memories. Or worse, kill her in such a way that she lingers as a spirit and has amnesia on top of that.

"Stop that overthinking. I don't believe the guardian is behind it." Avery says flatly. "But yeah, I'm worried the Miraculous might be involved. I'll explain more when I talk to the guardian about it, but if you have something else to do, I'd rather give you the full report once I'm a bit more sure."

"I understand." Carter says. "And I'll tag along. I'm curious, now."

Avery chuckles. "Alright, then. Come on. To the guardian's house, we go."

* * *

Iinar is out looking for Hawk Moth again, and Arrel is doing is own research in Gerard's library. Neither of them are so clingy that they feel they can't go do their own thing while Avery and Carter talk to a teacher, and their bonds have been trained to the point that they can find each other if they need to, not even considering that they have an apartment to meet back up at regardless, so unfortunately neither of the kwami are with them when they revisit the guardian.

Not that they're necessary, but it feels appropriate to have them around when their topic directly concerns the Miraculous. The guardian does question their absence, but it's not his place to judge. It's been a long time since Arrel stuck so close to Carter as the guardian expects a kwami to, and Iinar has always been free-willed. For his part, Carter doesn't see the point of keeping Arrel so close at all times. He's not a hero, and Marinette asked him specifically not to interfere in the attacks unless asked. Arrel's keen mind is better put to use following his own leads than trapped alongside Carter. Four heads are better than two, and all that.

Carter can't help but curl his lip hearing Wayzz call the guardian "master". He understands the idea behind it is more akin to martial arts masters than slave masters, but the word still grates at him, considering the binding magic attached to the kwami and Miraculous. When one has read as much as he has about past keepers, it's hard for it not to. Just like the terminology of "using" or "wielding" the Miraculous, and by extension the kwami, as if they aren't powerful magical beings with their own desires and personalities and thoughts, but mere tools to be "used" to the "owner's" ends. It's disgusting, and whether it's meant innocently or not, if that's how the old guardian order talked about the kwami, then Carter will be glad to never emulate them in that regard.

His own teacher taught him that by accepting the Miraculous, he's a keeper. A keeper, a caretaker. Of history, of the kwami associated with the Miraculous entrusted to him, of his principle, that which the kwami represents, and of the community at large. He protects them and nurtures them, so that they might grow and live well in their own way. "His" kwami is only his insomuch as he is Carter's partner. Just like Avery is "his", so is Arrel, but neither of them are _controlled_ by him. Neither are _used_ by him. The very idea is sickening to his core.

Carter hopes that through his lessons he'll passively drill that terminology out of the keepers here. He knows they _think_ of their kwami appropriately, but words are powerful things. If everyone keeps talking about them like that, it won't be surprising when someone starts acting like it. Like Hawk Moth is.

"I'd like to see the Miracle Box." Avery says, gesturing casually to the gramophone at the side of the room. "Open, that is."

The guardian frowns, scowl lines deepening on his face. "Why? You have your own Miraculous."

"I won't touch." Avery promises, his voice has a familiar husky teasing to it, smooth and clear but low and dangerous. That's just his voice, really, but when he gets sarcastic like this it always stands out more to Carter. "Promise."

The guardian's frown doesn't lessen any, but he does rise to retrieve the box. He lays it out in front of Avery and opens it, asking, "What are you looking for?"

Avery bites his lip and furrows his brow, examining the open face of the box. The design, and the compartments, each clearly with a specific Miraculous meant for each place. The design on top, a five-petaled flower with a yin-yang symbol in the center, draws Carter's attention. He's not an expert on Eastern religions and philosophies, but he recognizes the yin-yang symbol and he's familiar with the concept of the _wuxing_, if not so much as to immediately recognize how these Miraculous relate to it.

Dualism and the Five Agents. Carter will need to read into both ideas. The box itself is a larger _taijitu_, Carter suspects, but he'll have to do a lot more research into it to be certain. There's not much more Carter can tell just by looking at the box. Not without more research. As it is, he at least knows how this box is arranged. That gives him a very good starting point for when he begins his research into these Miraculous in earnest, and indeed a hint towards the priorities of the guardian order. That philosophy might very well also give Carter a better idea of how the guardian thinks, which will be a valuable tool in itself.

"You're missing two. The peafowl is also gone." Avery says matter-of-factly. There's a troubled tenor to his voice that Carter is sure only he picks up on. "That's… interesting."

"The peafowl was lost along with the butterfly." The guardian says grimly.

"So, it wouldn't be out of bounds to assume that whoever has the butterfly also has the peafowl." Avery says. "Not necessarily, of course, but depending on how he found the butterfly…"

"Yes." The guardian nods. "It is possible."

Avery acknowledges him with a sharp hum, almost dismissive, and refocuses on the box. "The peafowl…" He closes his eyes, muttering, "That which feels deeply, and stands firm with its heart. Emotion, or integrity, depending on who you ask…"

The guardian opens his mouth to ask something, but Carter silently cuts him off with a gesture. Avery is thinking, he's figuring something out, and now is the time to be patient, not to distract him with questions.

"Not naturally, but… but what could cause _that_?" Avery sighs and shakes his head. "Carter. I mentioned a theory?"

"Yeah?"

"Gerard had a lot of promising leads, but everything I look into has some major problem. No reason for one specific quirk or other, you know? But this… it explains everything perfectly, but the problem here is that it's just hard to imagine it happening. If the peafowl were sent into an emergency state, damaged, maybe, to the point that the safeguards fail and its magic becomes unstable, it's… _possible_ that it might…" He sighs. "She might not be dead, is what I'm saying. The peafowl is focused on the spirit. On an indominable spirit. Without the Miraculous' proper safeguards the kwami's magic could, in theory, separate the spirit from the body."

The guardian's eyes fly wide open. "The peafowl Miraculous gives the power to create sentimonsters. Creatures of spirit given physical form to fight for the one whom the peafowl's amok has joined with."

"Carter." Avery says sharply. "_Don't_ run with this. I need to get back to the library. This needs a _lot_ more research before we move forward with it. That said, I think… I think there's a chance our spirit friend is alive, and possibly the keeper of the peafowl. That magic, uncontrolled, can, in theory, create a… sentimonster, of sorts, out of the keeper's own spirit. A preservation mechanism, reacting to the Miraculous' own damaged condition. Sort of like an autoimmune response."

"And you think our spirit friend is that keeper? But if her spirit is here because of the power of the peafowl, where's her body? Is it even still alive?"

"Good question." Avery says. "Her body… could be anywhere. But I'm sure she's alive. Her spirit isn't _totally_ severed from her body. That explains that weird stretch she had about her, and why she stands out so much to Iinar and I. Her spirit is both still in her body _and_ roaming free. She's in a liminal state, not quite dead or alive, not quite spirit or physical. If her body died, I'm sure she'd either disappear, or that liminal state would resolve into her death. She'd be just another spirit to me."

"Well," Carter says, "that's… good news?"

Avery nods. "Good news. But only if this is what really happened. I still need to do more reading, and you still need to find her, to be sure."

Carter nods. "Understood. You heading straight to the library?"

"Oh, yeah. See you at home?"

"See you."

Avery leans in to give Carter a quick kiss before taking off with only a stilted wave to the guardian in his rush.

The guardian, for his part, seems bit shell-shocked. "What… exactly were you two talking about?" He asks carefully.

"Just a… side mission, of sorts." Carter says. "But, if Avery's theory is right, it might tie in more with this Hawk Moth business than we thought." He chuckles lightly. "Things have a way of doing that in this line of work. I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, it's none of your business. No offense, but as of right now, it's still unconfirmed if a Miraculous is even involved, so I'm not going to tell you the details of the case. Suffice it to say, we're looking into something for someone."

The guardian ducks his head. "I understand. But can I ask… you mentioned a library? And your partner knows more about the peafowl than he should. This library… what manner of library contains books on the Miraculous?"

Carter blinks. The question throws him for a loop because it never occurs to him that the _guardian_ doesn't know about the keeper's library. How can a guardian not know about one of the keeper's centers of knowledge? That's absurd! "Are… are you serious?" Carter asks, looking at the guardian's face and seeing that yes, he's deadly serious. "Wayzz, man, you never mentioned it?"

The guardian follows Carter's gaze to the green kwami, who shrinks down, seeming ashamed. "Master Fu was only an apprentice when the temple was destroyed." Wayzz says. Carter fights off the small surge of snide pleasure that comes with that revelation. _He's not even a true guardian. That explains a lot._ "The trainees were strictly forbidden from the library, and only the eldest of them were even told of it. The order forbade us to tell anyone of it, to protect it. As Master Fu was never officially granted the Miraculous by the guardians, I was still under their orders of silence."

Carter wants to laugh out loud at the pure shame the guardian shows after hearing that. A trainee guardian, not a full one. That's just perfect. The more Carter hears about this guardian, the more he loathes the man. Though, he supposes with the box falling to him by default with no other guardians, he is _technically_ an official guardian, as far as the magics are concerned. Still, that's an interesting tidbit that Carter will definitely use against him if he tries anything funny.

"The keeper's library," Carter says, "contains the records of the keepers of the Miraculous. By and large, all the volumes in there are biographies, telling the stories of the lives of the keepers, but there is a small section on more general magic, as related to the Miraculous and kwami."

"Truly?" The guardian gasps. "Such a thing still exists?"

"Yes. Avery and I use it often, to learn from our predecessors. Much of what they knew is written in their biographies, though obviously a lot of the books are written in the native languages of the keepers, so we can't read a lot of them. It's still tended to by the librarians. You surely know about them, yeah?"

"I do not know much about them, but I have heard of them, yes. There were a few at the temple while I was training there."

Carter hums. "My teacher was one of them. Not the ones at the temple, but one of their people. She taught me everything she could about the Miraculous, and about magic, and then gave me access to the library so that I could continue my education on my own."

"Ah… could… could I see the library? To see such a place with my own eyes would be…"

"Wondrous. Awesome." Carter says teasingly. "Keeper or no, I'm not in charge of who comes and goes from our library. If I were you, I'd ask a librarian." With a shake of his head, he stands. "Good luck with that. Really." He's not even being sarcastic. Maybe lessons from their forebears will teach this guy a thing or two about responsible care of the Miraculous. He could probably stand to be a bit more helpful, but the guy has a whole box of kwami who can tell him anything Carter can. Assuming they aren't still bound by old guardian magics, but that's none of Carter's business. After all, he's not a guardian. "I'm going to head home. Thank you for your time, guardian."

Truthfully, the keeper's library is very tightly kept. It's all under the librarians' purview, though, so Carter isn't lying when he says he's not in charge of that. Carter _could_ vouch for the guardian, and given Carter's standing with the librarians there they're pretty likely to let him in, but truth be told, Carter can't in good conscience vouch for the guardian. The librarians made him promise when they granted him that authority that he should only vouch for people he truly trusts. People he knows for a fact are like-minded and won't abuse the knowledge held in the library.

No matter Carter's own opinions on what knowledge should be shared to whom, the guardian does not fulfill the stipulations of the promise he made to the librarians. Carter doesn't trust him as far as he can throw him and given how he's used the Miraculous to make _child soldiers_, Carter definitely doesn't believe he'll never use the knowledge of the library to distasteful ends. Well-meaning or not, his crimes stand, and Carter does not forgive them. He doubts the librarians will overlook them either. It's a shame, and Carter does feel bad for him – libraries are truly the most wondrous places in the world, and one devoted to the Miraculous, for a keeper, is pure bliss – but without breaking promises, there's nothing Carter can do. Honestly, even if he did vouch for him, Carter isn't sure the librarians would overlook everything. They can be pretty strict, and they're _very_ protective of the library. Especially after the temple was destroyed.

But Carter has better things to think about than whether an old man will see a library or not. Like Avery said, he still has to figure out who Anais is. Avery is right that they can't roll full steam ahead on this peafowl Miraculous theory just yet, and even if they could, Avery is the one who will know better all the implications of it. That means Carter is essentially exactly where he left off, with little to go on but obituaries and missing persons reports to read through in the hope that Anais still resembles her living self enough that the connection is even possible. If she _is_ still alive, then this search might have a greater chance of success, all things considered. If she's still technically in her body, it's much less likely that her appearance has changed drastically, but again, Avery is the one who will know more accurately how that works. To Carter's knowledge, this isn't something that's happened before, so he has little practical experience to base his theories on.

Carter groans. He just had a cup of tea at the guardian's place, but honestly? He needs a good cup of tea right now. _Arrel should still be at Gerard's._ He thinks. _Maybe I should go for a visit, too._ It's tempting, very much so, but instead Carter elects to simply return home. It's been quite a day already, with the Couffaines and the guardian, and neither he nor Avery have eaten dinner. Avery will no doubt be researching late into the night, but it'd be nice for him to have a meal waiting for him when he gets back. Carter can whip that up, eat something himself, and spend the rest of the evening quietly with a book. Or maybe he really will go through some more obituaries. _Some work_, he decides, _then something for fun._

Or, at least, that is the plan, until he opens his door and sees Ladybug standing there, looking rather cross, he thinks. That's probably not a good sign. "Hey there." He says cheerily. "Honestly, I didn't think I'd be seeing you here. What can I do for you?"

Ladybug huffs. "Care to explain why my classmate suddenly has a new cousin?"

Carter shrugs. "I did message you about Anais telling us who you are."

"Yeah, I know you know who I am, but you're talking to my _teacher_? And bringing my friends into it?!"

Carter blinks. "Oh. _Oh_, no, no, no. Okay, let me explain, alright? First, though, you want some tea?" Ladybug taps her foot and looks at him expectantly. Carter takes that as a sign that she is not in the mood for tea. "Avery and I are teachers. That's like, what we do. Anais told us about your classroom. About Chloé and how your teacher was handling her. From what we could tell, your teacher is a good person, who's trying her best, but pinning the responsibility of changing a bully on that bully's victims is totally unacceptable. All we did was talk to your teacher, as Juleka's concerned cousin, about the classroom environment. I promise, you weren't even brought up."

Ladybug narrows her eyes. "Why Juleka? How did you manage to pose as her cousin? You're… not actually her cousin, right?"

Carter laughs. "Naw, I'm not. That's more her business than mine, so I'm afraid I can't tell you the whole situation, but suffice it to say we know the Couffaines. With some degrees of separation. Okay?"

Ladybug crosses her arms and stares him down for a moment longer. Then she sighs and relaxes. "Okay. I guess… thanks. I'm… surprised you went out of your way to help me like that."

Carter just grins and makes himself comfortable on the sofa. "That's why I'm here. To make your life easier. Plus, that was affecting more than just you. I would've helped if I could, anyway. No telling just yet how your teacher will take my advice, but she seemed eager to fix things."

Ladybug nods stiffly. "So… how is it going? The search for Hawk Moth?"

"Not well, I'm afraid. Iinar's out searching a lot of the time, but it hasn't turned up anything with enough proof to act on. We _might_ have another lead, but it's super tentative right now, so it's not really worth going into. Avery's out doing some research, as is Arrel."

"Your kwami are just… out? Roaming around without you?" Ladybug asks.

"Yeah. Why not?" Carter says. "Arrel is smart. Smarter than me, in a lot of areas. And Iinar is clever, if nothing else. They're alright on their own. If we need each other, we know how to find each other, so there's no need to stick by each other's sides _all_ the time." Ladybug hums and shifts uncertainly, so Carter asks. "You alright? Is there something you want to ask me?"

Ladybug blushes, bites her lip, and sighs. "Yes." She sounds almost… defeated when she says it. "It's just… argh, I hardly know you! It's hard to say it!"

"That's alright." Carter says. "You don't have to say any more than you want to. Sometimes a stranger's perspective is just the thing we need, though."

Ladybug groans again. "It's… it's my crush. You said… you said you were, uh, possessive with Avery, right? How did… how did you _stop_ that?"

_Oh._ Carter quickly prepares himself for this conversation. It's certainly not what he was expecting, but if Ladybug is ready to talk about it, who is he to deny her? "Well, it wasn't easy." Carter admits. "I had friends who care a lot about us both, and who never hesitated to call me out on it. So, their interference helped a lot, especially when I didn't realize right away what I was doing."

Ladybug frowns again, looking down. "My friends are more eager to set me up with him than to keep me away from him."

The way she says that catches Carter's attention. She sounds almost… dejected. _Maybe I really should put on some tea._ "You don't sound appreciative of that. Is that a good or bad thing?"

Ladybug groans again, holding her head in her hands. "I don't know! I'm glad that they're helping me, of course, but… after your story, I just… I feel like maybe I should be doing the same thing you did. Even if we do get together, if I can't stop this behavior then I'm only going to hurt him, so…"

"That's true. Some jealously is okay, if you manage it alright, but it can never get to the point of possessiveness. I'm sorry, I have to ask again. Would you like a cup of tea? You can explain the situation more, and maybe I can help."

"I… yes. That sounds like a good idea. Thank you."

Carter gets up to put the pot on, chuckling all the while. "Don't thank me yet. I haven't done anything."

Ladybug just sighs and mutters. "You're already the only person who hasn't just told me to not give up and to keep chasing him. Even though it's hopeless."

That's interesting, but it sounds like she doesn't mean for Carter to hear it, so he pretends that he doesn't.

When he returns with the tea, she sits down with him and explains in more detail everything about her crush. She fawns over him a bit, not unexpected, and she does admit who he is, which Carter finds both hilarious and extremely concerning. Anais mentioned it, of course, but it's still a strange situation. Considering both of the kids have shown unhealthy behavior towards each other, if they _do_ get together because of an identity reveal of all things, he can't imagine that relationship going smoothly. They're still young, so there's a good chance they'd work through everything together, but still. They're not exactly set up to succeed.

She details how she fell in love, and a lot of her more concerning behavior since then, citing each subsequent example of stalking or, in one concerning anecdote, theft as only more reason that she should give up on him entirely. She also details his oblivious rebuts of her advances, citing those as evidence that he doesn't like her that way.

Given she's currently Ladybug, Carter is quite sure he _does_ like her that way, but that's neither here nor there.

Eventually everything boils down to the teary question, "What should I do?"

Carter takes a moment, collects his thoughts, mulls over everything she's told him, and says, "One way or another, you know some of that stuff you did was way out of line. For your own sake, and for whoever you end up with, you're going to have to learn to put a stop to those kinds of behaviors."

Ladybug hangs her head. "I know. I always knew, I just… it's hard."

"I know it is. I went through the same thing." Carter carefully pats her shoulder, making sure she's comfortable with that small but of contact. "If I were you, I'd ask your friends to help you. Explain to them that encouraging that stuff isn't going to help in the long run, even if did somehow manage to land you a date. Ask them to reign you in when you go too far. And you have to listen to them, too. Back off when they tell you, no matter what your gut's telling you to do. You're asking them to stop you, so you have to _let _them stop you. What do you think about that?"

Ladybug taps her chin. "It… sounds like a good plan. If I explain everything, I'm sure my friends will help."

"Good." Carter nods. "If you think that'll work for you, it's worth a shot at least. Now, as for giving up the crush entirely, I'm afraid it's not quite so easy as just deciding to do it. I told you that love is a choice, yeah? But that's the kind of love that Avery and I have. The kind that you get married with. Crushes are a bit different. They're that attraction that gets people together to start with. That thing that brings people together long enough for them to decide to love each other. Make sense?"

Ladybug nods, a bit unsure. "So… I can't get rid of it?"

"I didn't say that. Just that it won't be so easy as just making a decision. It takes time. Truth be told, the whole idea behind the 'love is a choice' thing isn't that you just decide to love someone or not, it is that anything not fostered will eventually die. It's the choice to nurture your love, and reaffirm it, that keeps it alive as you continue your lives together. Not the choice to love in the first place. If you decide that getting rid of the crush is what you have to do, the key is not to reject it. It's to leave it alone. Let it exist. Acknowledge it. But don't nurture it."

"I… I see. And… do you think I should?"

Carter smiles sadly at her. "I'm afraid that's not something I can decide for you. I'll tell you this, though. You don't _have_ to lose the crush to improve your behavior. Just focus on yourself. I lost my crush because I prioritized myself and stopped fostering it. You might, too. You might not. It doesn't really matter so long as you get yourself to a point you're happy with. The crush isn't the problem here, understand? It's how you approach it. What you're trying to do here, really, is change a habit. Like all habits, it's _hard_ to change. But it is possible, and once you've set up your new, healthier habit, you don't have to worry about it quite so much. A little, you still have to monitor your behavior, of course, but you're less likely to even try stuff like that. Make sense?"

Ladybug nods. "I think so. Thank you." She wipes at her eyes. "Honestly, sometimes it feels like I can't talk to anyone about things like this. Like… if I admit that I'm not perfect, then no one will like me anymore."

"Hey, I know." Carter says gently. "You have a lot of pressure on you. And a lot of expectations. I can't promise anything about how other people will treat you, but here in this apartment, I promise you can be as imperfect as you need to be. I'm not going to judge you, and I'm here to help, with anything you want me to help with. Avery, too. Yeah?"

Ladybug nods, watery smile on her face. "Yeah. Thank you."


	6. Burnt Out Ends of Smoky Days

"So!" Carter says with an easy grin. "Good news and bad news."

Anais scowls at him. "Did you figure it out, or not?"

"Yes and no." Carter answers. "We've got a good theory, but we can't be sure just yet. Not until we figure out who you were."

Anais taps her foot. "Well? What's the theory?"

"Ah, so, good news!" Carter says. "You might not be dead!"

Anais blinks in shock. "I… wait, really?"

"Bad news, you might be associated with Hawk Moth. Or is that good news, 'cause you'd know who he is? Ah, whatever, it's just a possibility, anyway."

"Wait, hold up, what on _Earth _are you talking about?!"

Carter chuckles, slowing himself down. "Okay, so Avery did a lot of research into what could make you… the way you are. Right? Because you aren't just a spirit with amnesia, you're _different_ than most spirits, in a way only he and Iinar really understand completely, yeah?"

"Where is that guy, anyway?" Anais grumbles.

"Oh, Chat Noir stopped by our place. Avery is talking to him. I wasn't necessary there, and he seems to take more to Avery anyway, so I came here instead of calling to cancel."

Anais hums a discontented acknowledgement. "Okay. And what's all this about me being alive and Hawk Moth?"

Carter takes a deep breath. "Okay, so here's the deal. Avery was researching what's up with you, but for a while everything he considered had major problems that the theory doesn't explain, right? Until this theory came up. I know it sounds far-fetched but hear me out. The peafowl Miraculous of emotion is one associated with the box that the guardian here in Paris has. It was lost alongside the butterfly Miraculous."

"You're telling me Hawk Moth might have another Miraculous?!"

"Yes, but that's not the point. Listen, if the peafowl were damaged, it _could_ set off a preservation response of sorts. Like an autoimmune thing. Without the safeguards that the Miraculous give us, trying to channel the peafowl's magic would be extremely dangerous. If the magic was set into an emergency state, like if it was damaged, then it could, in theory, separate the keeper's spirit from their body. There's a lot of complicated magic mechanics going on here, but essentially, the result would look exactly like you do."

Anais shakes her head, flabbergasted. "You think… you think _I'm_ the keeper of the peafowl Miraculous?"

"It's the best theory we have at the moment." Carter says. "We're still exploring all our options, of course, but it's the only one we have that explains everything Avery and Iinar see in you."

Anais grits her teeth, sighing as she inclines her head. "But there's no way to know for sure until you figure out who I am."

"Unfortunately, yes. We had no idea the peafowl was even outside the box, much less paired with a keeper. But there is some more good news, if you're comfortable with trying it."

Anais narrows her eyes. "What is it?"

"Avery's figured out what you are. Well enough, anyway, that we managed to adapt a spell that might work on you. We _also_ found some records in a book that the guardian has that might help us repair the damaged peafowl Miraculous."

"So… you can fix everything? Is that what you're saying?"

"In theory. If this is what's really happening." Carter says. "If you're like this because of the peafowl, then if we put you back in your body, and we repair the Miraculous, you should eventually wake up with conventional healing. Not right away, of course, and depending on the state of your body it's possible that… nevermind. Point is, if your body is okay, then doing all that is a relatively safe and easy way to get you back to normal. We would need some help from casters, though, but that shouldn't be a problem. We aren't wanting for casters willing to help us."

"That's… that's great! I'm alive! And I can get back to my body!"

Carter winces. "Yes, but… we still don't know who you are or where your body is. That's the other side of the coin. The more dangerous one. We've already been asking around about it. Our friend likes creating and adapting spells. With Avery's specifications, he adapted a memory spell that _should_ help you remember who you were, and hopefully what happened to you. The problem is, the spellcasters we know best here in Paris are Gerard, who is a specialist warlock, so not a very good choice for complicated memory spells, and the Couffaine siblings, who're teenagers. If I had to pick, I'd say the boy, Luka, is probably the best bet, but… well, it's your brain. Memory spells are dangerous, since they directly alter your mind. If you're not totally comfortable with this option, then don't agree to it, okay? We can figure out who you are another way. That said, the option is here, if you want it, and your chosen spellcaster agrees to do it. Doesn't have to be my options, either. If you know someone, we can take the spell to them."

Anais worries her lip for a long time, mulling over the options she has. "So… we go to a spellcaster… and they can give me my memory back?"

Carter nods. "The theory is all sound. The spell should work, if it's done right. But you are still something we've never seen before. I trust both Avery and Todd, the one who drafted the spell, with my life, but the truth is if either of them got anything wrong about what you are, or how the magic will affect you, or if the one casting it botches it for whatever reason, you could end up losing your memory again, or worse. Magic affecting the mind is extremely delicate. Any miscalculation can alter the mind in a way we don't intend. For that reason, I'm only telling you that this option is here. I'm not going to encourage you to take it, and if you decide not to, there's no worries. Avery and I will keep working on figuring out who you are."

There's another moment of quiet unease until Anais clenches her jaw and straightens her shoulders. "No. I'll take it. Let's do it You said Luka is a good option, right? Why?"

Carter hums. "Well, he's real careful. Patient and composed. I've only talked to him a few times, but he's got the right temperament for this kind of casting. A bit inexperienced, but he learns quick and Todd is very thorough. Avery and I are used to interpreting Todd's instructions, and we both know the theory behind it, so if we all help, I'm sure Luka can handle the spell."

"And he's the best option you know of?"

"For sure."

"Okay. I trust you, so I'll trust him. Let's ask him."

"If you're sure." Carter eyes Anais as he pulls out his phone. He calls Anarka, rather than Luka, both because he feels he should keep her informed when he's asking a favor of her son and also because spellcasting of this kind, memory and mind-altering magic, is not something undertaken lightly. Most who do it are specialists. Truthfully, Carter would prefer taking Anais to an expert, but experts on this kind of magic are few and far between at the best of times. He did, of course, look into finding one when he first considered this option, but if there is one working in Paris, they're well hidden. Even casters who do dabble in mind-altering magic rarely admit to it unless they're actual doctors, and truthfully, magical doctors are one in a million themselves.

Most casters know basic medical spells, but there just isn't enough accessible magic education for true medical specialists to come up with any regularity, nor do even magic folk often find themselves in situations where magical healing is superior to modern medicine.

Carter has unique access to vast swaths of magical knowledge on nearly any topic one can think of. That's why his job is so important. For a lot of casters, if they don't learn from their parents, Carter and Avery are the only teachers they have. And if they do learn from their parents, their parents don't necessarily know any more than their own parents taught them. If the child of a graphics wizard wants to become a medical wizard, there aren't many magical avenues to pursue that. They would have to pursue a medical education in muggle society, and create their own medical magic using their conventional medical knowledge and standard magic theory.

Todd likes spellcrafting, but he's also a genius with magical theory who regularly consults with Carter for advice, as well as Johann's and his own Hale family magical libraries. He's uniquely gifted in spellcrafting _and_ has a unique advantage over most casters in that area. For most casters, the idea of entering a whole area of study with very few formalized spells to start from is too outlandish to consider. It's a sad reality, and one Carter is trying hard to change, but it's the current state of things.

And it all means that finding a memory specialist, even in a city like Paris, is a stretch, to say the least. The best Carter can hope for is a caster who will listen to him, try their best, and ideally clicks, even just a little, with the spell when they see it. He's sure Luka is at least two of those.

He explains everything to Anarka, explains how if Luka is willing to help, assuring her that despite the danger to Anais, there's no more danger to Luka himself than there is with any other spell, and asks for her permission to ask Luka for his assistance. She eagerly grants it, proud that her son is deemed capable of such a thing and glad to help someone who needs it. So, Carter calls Luka next. After checking with Anais, he explains the whole situation, Miraculous, Anais, and all. He may not know Luka super well, but they've been talking since they met. Luka has a lot of good questions, and Carter can tell already that he's taking Carter's lessons to heart. He's a good kid, and Carter trusts him with this.

"This sounds complicated." Luka says softly. "Are you sure I'm your best option?"

"Luka. I would never ask something of you that I'm not confident you're capable of. Okay? Trust me."

There's a long pause, and then, "Okay. If you think I can help, I'll do whatever I can. You'll help me go over this memory spell?"

"Of course. I'll be there every step of the way. Any questions to have, either I or Avery can answer them, alright? And we won't move forward with the casting until you're comfortable with the spell."

After they arrange a time to meet and Carter hangs up, he catches sight of Anais watching him. Carefuly, softly, but almost smug at the same time. "What?" He asks.

She just snickers. "You're so soft with kids."

Carter laughs loudly. "Should I not be? I like kids."

Anais giggles. "Your kids are going to be something else, I can tell already."

"Pfft. Between our students back home and the kids here, Avery and I have quite enough kids already. Maybe when we're older."

Anais laughs along with him. He and Avery haven't _not_ talked about kids. Of course, they have. That's an important thing to know, considering wanting kids or not can make or break a relationship for some people. If they do decide to have kids, it won't be soon. That much is for sure. Neither of them are ready for that, yet.

* * *

"How'd it go with Chat?" Carter asks when he sees Avery at the Couffaine houseboat.

Avery shrugs and smiles enigmatically. "As you'd expect. He's a good kid. Anais agreed to the memory spell, I see."

Carter nods. "Luka, what do you think?"

Sitting on his own bed, guitar laid out next to him, Luka examines the papers in his lap, frowning gently down at them like they're a puzzle. "I've never tried anything this complicated before."

"It's not as bad as it looks." Avery says. "Is there anything you don't fully understand?"

Luka looks up at him and then back to the paper. "What's this symbol here?"

"Ah, that." Avery sits with Luka, explaining what Luka asked about and how it ties into the rest of the spell. They go back and forth for a bit, reviewing everything, always calm and patient with each other as they ensure Luka understands everything he's going to be doing. Arrel joins them, too, explaining more technicalities.

In the meantime, Carter consults with Anais and Iinar about what might happen, what they might learn from Anais' memories, and what to do with the peafowl Miraculous should Avery's theory be correct. He also makes sure she knows what to expect going into this spell and reminds her again of the possible dangers. "I know, I know." Anais rolls her eyes. "A lot can go wrong. You don't have to keep telling me. I'm not backing down from this. I have to know."

"Good." Iinar says. "This'll definitely be interesting."

"_Mein Lieber_." Carter turns his head at Avery's call. "Are we ready?"

Carter looks back to Anais, who nods resolutely. "Let's do it. Whenever you two are ready."

Anais sits on the floor in front of Luka's bed, watching him expectantly, but Luka hesitates just a moment more, eyes darting back down to the papers in his hands. "Start with the permissions." Carter prods. "It's only polite, when casting on someone else."

Luka nods and turns his attention to Anais. "Anais, may I cast on you? It would be a…" His words are a tad stilted, and Carter knows he's just reciting what Carter told him earlier word-for-word. He doesn't have much practice casting on others, understandably, and even then the permissions are mostly a formality, since if someone were going to try casting on someone without their consent they wouldn't bother asking, but it's a formality that was drilled into Carter from the beginning by not only his own mentor, but his friends, too. _Never_ cast on another if there's even a shred of doubt. All spells need clear and direct consent, and even if they've agreed casually to it, always ask just before casting. Give them time to back out, and explain exactly what you're going to do, so they won't be taken off guard. That's the purpose of the permissions. Not everyone follows that rule, since it's so formal and can be kind of awkward at times, but by making it a habit there's no chance of unwilling subjects, and that's the most important thing of all. "A medical-grade remembrance spell adapted for use on spirits."

"Yes." Anais says. Carter knows the formality annoys her, but she understands why he's enforcing it, especially with young casters like Luka. All his students ask the permissions before casting anything on another person. Luka is no exception just because his subject is in a rush.

"Okay. Then…" Luka picks up his guitar and holds it close, placing the spellwork papers on the bed next to him, laid out in case he needs to peek at them, and then he begins to play.

When a spell is cast, by anyone, magic can be felt. There's passive magic all around them all the time, of course, just the magic of the earth in the world they live, but a spellcaster's magic takes on a quality uniquely their own. When Carter was transfigured into a cat, it was Mia and Asher who cast the spell. Mia's magic feels like a semi barreling down the highway at a hundred miles an hour. It's startling, dangerous, breathtaking, and it slams into Carter like he's standing on that highway. Asher's is much the opposite. Cool and minty, snowmelt trickling along carefully arranged tentacles guiding the current around him. It can send a chill down Carter's spine, but – and maybe this is simply the familiarity of it – it is comforting, in a way.

Luka's is a haunting melody that sets his insides abuzz, like he's standing in front of the speaker at a concert. It pulls on him, even though he's not the subject, like it's trying to draw him in. Like it hooks into his chest and pulls towards Luka and his guitar.

The spellwork itself is not something Carter can actually observe, merely the feeling of the magic at play, so as Luka furrows his brow and purses his lips and moves his fingers up and down his guitar, there's little Carter can offer to help except silence so that he might focus.

Carter estimates the song goes on for four or five minutes before Luka finally stops playing. Anais tenses visibly, and she has been reacting throughout the spell, but, following Carter and Avery's warning to keep still and not make too much noise until Luka tells her he's done, at risk of distracting him and throwing off the spell, she remains still sitting with her eyes closed.

"That's it." Luka says slowly, carefully examining Anais. "Did it… work?"

All three boys are surprised by the audible growl that Anais lets out. Her fists clench tight, as does her jaw, and her eyes only open far enough to glare at no one. "Gabriel Agreste." She hisses. "He's Hawk Moth. No one else could be."

"Agreste?" Luka's eyes go wide. "But, Adrien…"

Anais leaps to her feet. "That bastard! I'm going to tear him apart! How _dare _he use Nooroo like this!"

"Woah, woah." Carter steps between her and the exit when it looks like she's going to go for it. She can still easily slip around him, he doesn't want to trap her, but he does want to slow her down. "Can you explain, for the ones that don't remember your life?"

Anais huffs and, begrudgingly, sits back down. "You've earned it, I guess." She says. "My real name is Emilie Agreste. Adrien is my son, and Gabriel my husband." Luka gasps softly, but Carter and Avery, as well as Arrel all keep their reactions minimal. Anais _does _resemble Adrien. She just looks too young to have a kid his age. But spirits aren't bound by physical appearance. If her spirit simply appears as a younger version of herself, though… It's interesting for sure, and if this is leading where he thinks it is… "You were exactly right with what you thought made me this way. It was the peafowl Miraculous. It was damaged in a…" She bites her lip. "I'm not sure. Not everything is totally clear. But, it was damaged, and as I kept using it I started to get sick. I do remember that I found the peafowl, along with the butterfly and a spellbook in a language I don't know, when Gabriel and I were on a trip to Tibet. They were there, all together, in an old tourist trap souvenir shop. I convinced Gabriel to buy them." She sighs. "We didn't know that using the peafowl would do this to me. I'm sure he would have forbidden me from transforming if Gabriel did know. But now… Gabriel is trying to get the ladybug and black cat Miraculous to make a wish. I'd bet you that that wish is for me to wake up, or something similar. Stop the peafowl from getting damaged, or… basically he's going to wish for me."

"Wait, but…" Luka says, looking to Carter, "didn't you say she'll recover if she gets back to her body?"

Carter nods. "And the peafowl is fixed, yes. There's no reason what happened to her shouldn't be reversible, so as long as her body is in a state to recover physically, she should be fine."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Anais, or Emilie, says drily. "Knowing Gabriel he's keeping me as pristine as possible. If there's even a chance my body hasn't deteriorated too far, I'd bet it hasn't."

"That's good, then." Carter says. "And do you have any idea where you are? I can look for medical records if you don't, but if you do…"

"At the house. Our house. Even Gabriel understands that what happened to me was magical, and he barely trusts doctors as it is. He's doing this in-house for sure." She taps her chin for a moment. "We have a… basement, of sorts. I guess now it's more of a secret lair. It's where we practiced with the Miraculous and where we could talk openly about magic. Gabriel keeps a butterfly garden down there. That's where he's getting the butterflies. That garden was one of my favorite places inside the house, and he could easily adapt it to hold me if he wanted to. That's where my body is."

"Great." Carter says. "I don't suppose Gabriel will listen if we show up at your house and tell him we have the spirit of his wife with us?"

"Not a chance. One mention of magic and he'll turn on you. If he even talks to you in the first place. He's way too far gone to reason with at this point. Any attempt to bring me up will just make him angry. And I'm sure he won't be able to see me. He'll never believe I'm here in the first place, and we taught ourselves everything. We never learned to see spirits, never even knew about them, so me going over there won't do anything."

"A fight, then." Carter resigns himself to that inevitability. Sometimes, fights just can't be avoided. Sometimes people just go too far, and with such little formal policing in the magical world, it falls to people like Carter and Avery, young, competent go-getters who know enough to fight back, to put a stop to things like this. Ladybug and Chat Noir will need to be brought in, too, of course. They have to be there for the fight with Hawk Moth. "Wonderful."

Carter really does hate fighting. He's a historian, not a warrior. Given the option, Carter will always choose to talk things through. Sometimes, though… sometimes people just don't listen. It's unfortunate.

"So," Avery says, "I assume we're making a plan?"

Emilie nods. "Call Ladybug and Chat Noi- oh. No." She covers her face. "My poor boy."

"We'll call just Chat Noir." Avery says. "Let him absorb the situation first, and then call in Ladybug after. That way he has time to process, and he doesn't accidentally reveal himself to Ladybug."

"Good idea. Do that. Call him, set up the meeting, but… let me talk to him. Please?"

Avery nods. "Of course. I'll tell him to get to our apartment. We can meet him there, and Carter and I will… be nearby."

"Thank you."

"What about me?" Luka asks. "Can I help?"

Avery frowns, as does Emilie, but Carter points out a small flaw in the plan of leaving him out of it completely. "Someone needs to put Emilie back in her body. Er, actually, do you want us to call you Emilie? Or stick with Anais?"

"Emilie's fine. A caster needs to do that?"

Carter nods, and, resigned, so does Avery. It's Avery that explains. "It would be another medical spell, possibly even adapted necromancy, but yes, only a spellcaster can stich you back into your body. That means we have the same options as before, but this time I think Gerard is a much more feasible option."

"I'm not so sure." Carter says. "Gerard might be able to help us break in, but as you said it's another delicate medical operation. Maybe we should talk to Todd first, and Shiloh, maybe. Get the spell, and then see who matches best with it."

Emilie grits her teeth. "And how long will _that_ take?"

"Depends. It'd be more spellcrafting for Todd, and he's not a medical witch, nor a necromancer, so he's going to have to do some research before he can be sure about it. It's all just how quickly it comes to him. But we don't exactly have any other options."

Luka pales. "Necromancy?" He echoes.

"Nothing like you're thinking." Carter clarifies. "Most of the sphere of necromancy is as harmless as any other field. Commonly, it has to do with funeral prep. Body preservation, cleaning of remains, that sort of thing. People don't think of raising the dead when we talk about necromancy, typically. Mostly because that's impossible. There is some skeletal puppetry, that classifies as necromancy, too, but that's about as morbid as it gets. Most necromancers don't even do that. A lot of people aren't comfortable with it, even so. If you're not, we're not going to ask you to cast the spell."

"No, it's fine." Luka says quickly. "I want to help. If I can."

Emilie smiles kindly at him. "You're a sweet boy, but you really don't need to do any more. You've already helped us more than enough."

Luka shakes his head. "Hawk Moth hurt my sister. My friends. _Me_. And… what you were saying. Adrien is Chat, isn't he? I don't know him that well, but I want to help him. If I can help stop Hawk Moth, I want to. And I want to help you, too. At least let me look at the spell, when you get it."

Carter sighs. "Well, our options are basically you, your sister, or Gerard."

Luka hums softly, thinking. "Juleka might actually be good at this. I don't know about this Gerard guy, but Juleka's pretty good at putting things back together when Mom or I break things around the house. I don't know if that'll translate to a person, but…"

"In my experience?" Carter says. "It'll translate better than you think. Either way, we need to talk to Adrien first. Prepare him for what's going to happen. Then, we need to call Ladybug and come up with a plan. Maybe you and your sister should be there as well. And Gerard. If you're comfortable with Ladybug and Chat Noir knowing you're a spellcaster, that is."

"I'm fine with that. I'll ask Juleka when she gets home, but I'm sure we'll be there."

"Why would they need to be there?" Emilie snaps. "This boy is _not_ fighting Hawk Moth."

"Of course not." Carter says. "But we don't know yet where the peafowl Miraculous is. If there's a chance we can wake you up and avoid having to fight, I'm going to explore that option."

"Ugh, you naïve child!" Emilie groans. "Gabriel will _not_ give up his Miraculous without a fight! Even if you do wake me up, you'll have to fight him to get the butterfly back, anyway!"

"Maybe so, but you're still our best weapon against him, if only to throw him off balance. Even if it's just putting you back in your body drawing him into the lair, that's a big advantage for us."

Avery raises his brow but nods approvingly. "Against any opponent, if you get them off balance, you win. That's physically, or mentally. Scared for your safety, or angry that we're messing with your body, either makes him predictable and easy to deal with. It's a calm opponent that's most dangerous. It's not a terrible plan. If we can get into the lair undetected, it would even let us dictate the arena and catch him by surprise."

Their points quiet Emilie, sending her deep into thought. "As much as I would like to see you beat his scrawny ass, I guess you have a point. But how do you plan to get in there without alerting him?"

"Pipes." Avery says simply.

Carter gasps playfully. "We're using the plumbing!"

Avery giggles, as does Luka, and explains. "Well, not exactly. But I've read about the sewer system in Paris. Along with the catacombs… there's a lot underground here. I'm willing to bet there's _some_ underground path that leads under your secret lair. From there, Gerard could break a hole for us."

"And the security? That place is locked up tight, you know."

"Let me worry about that. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. First, Chat Noir, then planning."

The fire dies in Emilie's eyes. "Right." She says. "First, we need to take care of my son."

* * *

"So, that's the situation." Carter says into his phone. "Can you help?"

"Aha! Lucky you, I'm already working on it."

Carter chuckles. "Catch your curiosity, or did you really believe that much in Avery's theory?"

"Both! We all know Avery's rarely wrong about these things. But the spell isn't quite ready yet. Sorry. I want to consult with Shiloh, and check a few more things, then recheck my declensions and redefine the clauses again and reorganize the framework into all the proper matrices and-"

"I get it." Carter says, amused. Classic Todd. That's why his spells work, though. Because he checks, rechecks, restructures, redefines, and rechecks again to an almost obsessive degree before he even thinks of handing a spell off to actually be cast. "It still needs more work. Let me know when it's ready?"

"Naturally. It shouldn't take more than a few days, now."

"Got it. Thanks a bunch, Todd."

"No problem! You guys always have the most _fascinating_ puzzles. I'll tell Asher you miss him."

"Aha, good. Bye-bye."

"Come back soon! Your students miss you, too!"

Carter hangs up, shaking his head, and returns to the living room. Chat Noir arrived while Carter was on the phone with Todd, apparently. That's good. "Shouldn't we wait for Ladybug?" Chat asks, brow furrowed. "If you have information on Hawk Moth, she should really be here."

Emilie smiles gently. "No, Chat. We'll catch Ladybug up soon, but we agreed to tell you first because… well…" Her words fail her, though it's clear she's trying to get them out. After a moment of freezing, she takes a different approach. "Let's get you up to date, shall we?"

Emilie begins explaining the story. How she woke up as a spirit without her memories, how she asked Carter and Avery for their help figuring out her story, how Avery realized she's different than most spirits. She explains what really happened to her, with the peafowl Miraculous, and then she ultimately gets to the point that she has no choice but to say it. "Chat… before I lost my memory, my name was Emilie Agreste." He gasps audibly, but she continues without acknowledging it. "I took care of the peafowl Miraculous for a time, and my husband, your father, Gabriel, had the butterfly. _Has_ the butterfly."

"W-what? No, you… you've got to be mistaken."

"I'm so sorry, Adrien, but I'm not."

"But… Father can't be… he can't…"

"Adrien, honey, listen to me." Emilie takes his shoulders and levels her gaze with his. "Gabriel is Hawk Moth, yes, and there's nothing that justifies that. I know it hurts. It hurts me, too. I loved him, too. But I _promise _you, Adrien. Once we take down Gabriel, I'll be here for you. Not as a spirit, either. Our friends here figured out how to fix the peafowl Miraculous. Their friend is figuring out how to put me back in my body as we speak. It might be a short while before I really wake up, since my body has been asleep for so long, but I _will_ wake up. You hear me? You're _not_ going to be alone."

Adrien stares at her for a long time. The moment stretches on and on and Carter feels obtrusive watching the scene. It breaks down, eventually, as Adrien starts crying. He grabs onto Emilie and doesn't let go. Carter nudges Avery into the kitchen. Adrien isn't likely to let go of Emilie anytime soon, and when he does, he'll need hydration. Carter starts to put a pot of tea on until, with an affectionate roll of his eyes, Avery pulls an admittedly _slightly_ more sensible pitcher of water out of the fridge to pour a glass.

He grins sheepishly and returns the pot to the cupboard before taking advantage of their small bit of privacy to wrap his arms around Avery and nuzzle close. "He's going to be alright." Avery says softly, running his fingers through Carter's hair. "He's got his mom. And he's a strong kid."

"I know he will." Carter says. "I'm not worried about him."

"You're not?" Avery voice holds thinly veiled teasing disbelief. "Carter Wroden is _not_ worried?"

"Oh, shush. You know what I mean."

Avery pushes Carter's hair back and holds it there while he leans over to give him a kiss. "Sure. Can I ask, though… what do you reckon you're going to do with the butterfly and peafowl when we get our hands on them?"

"Good question." Carter closes his eyes and rests his head against Avery's. "Do you trust Emilie?"

"Despite the whole memory thing, she's still the same person she was when we knew her as Anais. Maybe not someone I'd choose to give a Miraculous to unprompted, but she's technically already a keeper. If the kwami wants to stay, I'd trust her to keep it. It might give her some peace of mind after all this with her husband, too."

"Yeah… I was thinking along those lines, too. The butterfly is a bigger question, though. It'd be irresponsible to leave her to care for multiple Miraculous when she's still so unfamiliar with magic. She's learned some being Anais, but…"

"She said herself she's self-taught, and her primary guide admits openly to being uninformed. She'd need a lot of preparation before she takes on the same responsibility you and Gabby do. I agree the butterfly can't stay with her. We could take it, but the guardian might not take kindly to that."

"Eh, who cares? The arrangement of the Miracle Box does hold power, but I didn't see any reason it'd hurt to remove one, did you? So, if you want to run off with one of the Miraculous I'm down for it."

"Or all of them." Avery chuckles. "We still haven't decided what to do with the guardian."

Carter lets out a low grumble in his throat. "Ladybug trusts him, for what that's worth. I do trust Ladybug. She obviously needs guidance and teaching, but she'll turn into a fine keeper. So long as we keep an eye on her education, and it's clear the guardian intends on her being his successor, I think we can trust him to be the… interim. Until Ladybug is old enough. I don't particularly _like_ it, but I think, if we want to, we can leave him alone and things'll be fine."

"Hmm. I agree. Maybe we'll take the butterfly, just to show him we _can_." Avery grins wickedly. "And return it to Ladybug once she inherits the box."

Garter giggles, nuzzling into Avery's neck. "You're mean. You know that?"

Nearby, Carter hears Arrel clear his throat. "While it's true there's no obvious magical reason the box must stay united, I would remind you that the kwami of that set all have known each other for many, many hundreds of years. They've been together for a long time. I'm sure they'd all like to see Nooroo again, and Nooroo would be glad to be with them."

"Point." Avery huffs. "If there's no need to take the box, or make a statement, there's no need to separate Nooroo from the rest of the kwami of the box. That's our plan? Return the butterfly, leave the peafowl with Emilie?"

"For now, at least." Carter says. "So long as the kwami agree, and unless something comes up to make us reconsider."

"We can hope."

"Haha. Think it's about time to head back out?"

"At least to give Adrien some water, yeah." Avery grabs the cup again, shakes it purposefully, and leads the way back to the living room.

When they step into the room, Chat Noir is wiping at his eyes with Emilie sitting next to him, rubbing his back. They both look up to the keepers. Rather than say anything, Avery just smiles and holds up the glass of water, offering it to Chat Noir. After he takes a long drink, Avery asks, "Better?"

Chat nods slowly. "Thank you. For telling me before bringing Ladybug here." He says. "And for teaching me and… everything, really. Father…" He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "Honestly, I think you've paid more attention to me in this past week than Father has since… Mother disappeared. Huh. I guess you didn't even really disappear, did you?"

"Never." Emilie says.

"Uh… when Father is taken down…" Chat Noir looks mostly at Avery, but his eyes keep darting down to the floor. "Are you going to leave?"

Avery smiles patiently. "Not right away. We still have students, and our lives, back in the states, so we're going to have to go eventually. But we're planning on sticking around for a while. To teach you more about what being a keeper means. About the community. We're not leaving until you and Ladybug are set up, alright? We're not taking off until we're sure you don't need us anymore."

"Oh. Okay."

"And even when we do leave, you can always call us. We'll still be available for you, come hell or high water. Understand?"

Chat Noir nods, hesitating a moment before rushing to give Avery a hug. Carter can't hold back his grin. It's no surprise that Chat is acting like this, really. He's more attached to Avery, whereas Carter has a better bond with Ladybug, though she's come to them much less than Chat has. Even though the two haven't been super involved with Carter and Avery's investigation, mostly because it revolved around Emilie and just _happened_ to lead to Hawk Moth, the two have still managed to earn the heroes' trust.

A teacher who cares, who wants nothing for their student but their success and happiness, and who is willing to work to ensure it, is so important to kids. That's what Carter believes with all his heart. Chat Noir, Adrien… Avery is good for him.

Chat Noir backs away, looking embarrassed, but quickly composes himself. "We need to call Ladybug. She should know about this as soon as possible."

"Agreed." Carter says. "You're ready for this?"

Chat Noir looks to Emilie with hooded eyes, nodding. "As I'll ever be."


	7. Straightforwad Pugilism

"L-Luka? Juleka? What're you doing here? Who's this?" Ladybug arrives in the apartment, scans over the place, recoils, then stutters out her confused exclamation.

Luka smiles kindly at her and waves. "Hey, Ladybug."

Ladybug blushes and immediately turns to Carter. "What is going on here? You said you have information on Hawk Moth!"

"I do." Carter says. "Everyone else is here to help with the plan. Let me tell you the whole story, and you'll see why they're involved, alright?"

Ladybug eyes Juleka and Luka, as well as Gerard, carefully and nods. "Okay."

For her sake, Carter recaps everything that happened with Emilie's investigation. "It's actually that other lead I mentioned before. We didn't have anything solid at the time, so I didn't go into it for Anais' privacy, but now things have panned out." He explains that Anais is actually Emilie Agreste, her relationship with the peafowl Miraculous – Ladybug already grasps that whoever has the peafowl is likely to have the butterfly, so he doesn't even need to say Gabriel's name before she's pinned him as Hawk Moth – and he lets Luka explain his own role in the tale. That he's the spellcaster who restored Emilie's memory. Luka is also the one to explain that Juleka is likely the one who will put Emilie back in her body, when the time comes, but that they're waiting on a spellscribe to write the spell they're going to use to do so.

Strangely enough, it's actually the Couffaines being spellcasters that seems to throw Ladybug for a loop, and not the confirmed identity of Hawk Moth. Carter just chuckles at her flabbergasted expression and tentative questions towards the two. _Kids have weird priorities._ Carter thinks. _It's cute, though._

Ladybug quickly gets back on track, though, despite her distraction. "So, we're going to wake up Mme. Agreste?" She asks. "We're waiting on a spell to do that?"

"Yeah." Carter says. "But it sort of depends on how we want to approach Hawk Moth. Emilie insists he won't listen to reason, so one way or another a fight seems inevitable. If we fight him and take the Miraculous, and we find the peafowl, too, we can repair it and put Emilie back in her body whenever we please. No rush. That said, my understanding is he's not keen on leaving the house. I'm thinking it's going to be hard to draw him out, which means we'd fight him on his own ground."

"The Agreste mansion has crazy-high security." Chat Noir says. "Fighting him in there is going to be tough."

"How do you know that?" Ladybug asks. "He's protective over Adrien, but he's just a fashion designer, isn't he? What kind of security are we talking about?"

Emilie decides to answer her, to cover for her son. "I told him. The security was high even when I was awake. Gabriel is overprotective at the best of times, and we had two Miraculous and our son we were concerned for, so security seemed sensible. With me in the state I'm in and what he's doing to wake me up, I'm sure he's taken the security even further. If you're caught breaking in, the house will go on lockdown. Only way in or out will be with Chat Noir's cataclysm, and then you'll be on a timer."

"Hm, so what's the best way in?"

"Magically!" Gerard exclaims. "I've done my fair share of breaking and entering in my day. Don't you worry, young keepers, yours truly can get you in there in a jiffy! Believe it or not, I actually have a very similar security system in my home! With all the valuable artifacts there, I had to put _something_ in place. Of course, I also have a set of wards and barriers to prevent magical entry, but our dear Gabriel isn't a spellcaster, so his house is vulnerable as a peach."

"That's… comforting?"

"Not at all, my dear! He should have invested in magical security. Ha! Classic mistake. Now, I must admit, there is one, _teeny_ problem on the whole break-in plan. That is, the, as you say, ingress point. Pick the wrong place and the house goes on lockdown. I can make the house go boom, but I'm afraid I can't guarantee the residents' safety if I'm busting through blast shields."

Ladybug frowns. "We can't just… I don't know, teleport inside?"

"Technically speaking, I suppose we could use the horse Miraculous." Avery says. "But we've got a pretty big party and no one bonded close enough with that kwami to use the power more than once, so we've got no exit that way. We don't want to rely on having Chat's power available, or our victory. A more conventional break-in means we have an escape route, if necessary. That said, spatial transportation magic is a bit beyond what we're capable of here. Even the basics of that field are far beyond anything we can do. I personally can pass through any walls, and I'll be undetectable by the house, though maybe not by Gabriel himself, but the rest of you will need a way in and out without anything in your way."

"Hm. So, we need to figure out the best place to break into."

"Exactly." Emilie says. "And I have an idea on that. I was talking with Avery about what exactly will happen when I'm put back in my body. The rejoining should cause increased activity for my body. More of a true sleep than the coma-like state I'm currently in. Until my spirit settles back in, it will look a lot like I'm waking up. I still don't think he'll stop unless I actually do, and he won't give up his Miraculous even if I do, but you guys could use the moment to get the advantage on him. If you think that's a good option, then our best, uh, ingress point, would be the basement itself. It's hidden, and underground, with no entrances except for a door inside the house and a window up another elevator. Most of the security is placed around the entrances, not the basement itself, since we never imagined something could get in that way. On top of that, any offensive security would be kept far away from my body. Gabriel would never risk even a malfunction hurting me."

"How exactly would _we_ get in that way?"

"Through the sewers, of course!" Gerard says. "I've taken the liberty of examining some maps of Paris' underground, and a sewer runs directly adjacent to this lair of Gabriel's. It's only concrete and dirt in between, so I can take down the wall, no sweat."

Ladybug frowns. "But if we use Emilie to draw Gabriel down into the basement, then Juleka will have to be there, won't she? To put Emilie back into her body?"

"Yes." Carter says. "She does. As soon as her spell is done, she and Luka will escape. Gerard can hold down the escape tunnel, just in case Gabriel tries to block us off. That's the idea. We're open to other options, of course."

Ladybug stops to think for a long moment. "If we draw Gabriel into the basement, we can minimize damage to the house and the city overall. It's a good plan. But we'd also have to fight around Emilie, won't we?"

"Yes, but so will Gabriel." Carter says. "Something's telling me he'll be doing everything he can to avoid hurting her. It's a small risk, but Emilie is the one who won't be able to defend herself. She can make her own decision."

"Gabriel won't intentionally hurt my body." Emilie says. "This is a non-issue."

Ladybug worries her lip, examines everyone in the room, and nods. "Okay. Here's the plan."

* * *

"And you feel okay about this? You understand what you're doing?"

Juleka frowns down at the papers in her hands and nods resolutely.

Carter hears her loud and clear, but still he hovers a little. "We won't have the diagrams in the lair. You have everything memorized? Or do you have a shorthand figured out?"

Juleka nods again, a little less sure. Luka wraps his arms around her shoulders, looking up purposefully at Carter. "She's got this. Focus on getting ready for the fight."

"Hey, Carter!" Carter reluctantly turns his attention away from the kids to tend to Avery. "Could you go grab the whatchamacallits?"

"Oh! Right!" Carter jumps into action, running back towards their bedroom to retrieve the ingredients Avery is asking for. Standard medical supplies. A non-magic first-aid kit, dittany – helpful in a lot of quick healing spells and potions, especially in the field, some other assorted ingredients for fast spellcasting or potion-making. Mostly for Gerard, obviously, but it's all standard kit if one's expecting a fight. Carter and Avery may not be able to cast spells, but quick potion-making and alchemy is more than within their abilities.

He doesn't expect to need it,_ per se_. With Ladybug's restoration powers, anything they need patching up – or blowing up – will be more of a hotfix to keep them helpful, and though he's cautious of underestimating Hawk Moth, he honestly doesn't foresee this battle being altogether that difficult. Between their massive numbers advantage, element of surprise, vast knowledge gap including insider knowledge from both Emilie and Adrien, and Hawk Moth's only magical prowess depending entirely on someone losing their cool, Avery can probably take him down on his own, if he wants to. No, bringing the kit is just standard. Habits like this are good to have, because when there _is_ significant danger, it'll save lives.

Carter tosses the kit to Avery and checks with Arrel that they're ready to go. While they waited for the spell, Gerard and Ladybug found an entrance to the sewers, which the whole group enters carefully, so as not to be seen. Only when they're safely underground do Carter and Avery transform, though Ladybug and Chat Noir, agreeing to talk about a possible identity reveal only after Hawk Moth is dealt with, naturally go into the operation in their super suits.

No one says much as they make their way through the sewers. The air is thick with humid breaths and thudding shoes on concrete, but no one dares speak. Gerard stops them, suddenly, with a hand in the air. He holds a flashlight to a map in his hand, examining it and the wall closely, and folds the map to tuck away into his pocket. "If you would, Mister Graham?" Gerard says, respectfully quiet, even for him.

Avery squeezes Carter's shoulder for just a moment and then steps straight into the wall. The power of his Miraculous allows him to make himself entirely incorporeal. Not invisible, but aside from that there's nothing really there to sense, or to touch. Nothing can harm him, but consequently he can't touch anything himself. And machines, even visual motion sensors, don't pick him up at all. No matter what security Gabriel has in that room; if it's not magical, Avery isn't setting it off.

Honestly, even a lot of magical wards and barriers don't react to him. Only the more specialized ones stand a chance of detecting him like that. Liminality is a principal that makes even Carter scratch his head, even after all these years as Avery's partner, but the simple explanation Avery gave him was that it all has to do with his ability to not be, and already be, wherever he happens to be at the time. It confuses detection at best, and in most cases renders him completely invisible. Practically speaking, it means that Avery can walk around Gabriel's secret lair all day, but so long as Gabriel himself, or some crony of his, doesn't go down to see him with their own eyes, they'll never know Avery was there.

It's true that it should be possible for Gabriel to simply sense his presence due to their power's heritage. Iinar being progeny of Nooroo means they both draw from the same source, so through that draw of power, Avery and Gabriel can sense each other. But given how Iinar hasn't been able to pinpoint Nooroo, nor Avery Gabriel, in all the time they've been in Paris, there's no possible way Gabriel, who isn't trained to do such a thing, can sense Avery so accurately as to know he's inside his house through Mia's protection charms. Especially if Avery is deliberately masking himself.

The rest of the team waits with bated breath, watching the sewer wall. Minutes pass, too long, really, but Carter knows better than anyone the value of patience. And he knows that any delay is more liable to be due to Avery getting distracted and nosy than him getting caught. Chat Noir is getting antsy, though, shifting from foot to foot. Juleka is wringing her hands, tracing a spell diagram with a finger.

Everyone except Carter and Luka jumps when Avery suddenly reappears, poking his head through the wall. "All clear." He says. "You're up, Gerard. Ten paces."

"Excellent!" Gerard grins wickedly. "Now, dear children, I recommend you all stand back. Mister Graham, untouchable or not, it may be wise to remove yourself from the wall. Just in case."

"Yes sir." Avery chuckles, disappearing into the other side of the wall.

"Now." Gerard runs his fingers through his beard and cracks his knuckles. "It has been some time since I've used this spell. Let's see here…" He approaches the wall, examining it carefully. He bends down and touches the wall, running his hand along it in a tall arc. Then he steps back, smirks, and claps his hands together with two sharp, resounding echoes.

In a split-second, the dark sewer tunnel is lit up so bright that Carter has to cover his eyes. Through the sting and his squinting, he can make out the barrier, spattered with red-hot molten stone, containing a swirling, roiling vortex of flame. So close, Carter can hear the roar of the fire but the barrier stops any heat from escaping. The fact that it melts down the sewer wall and the earth itself between them and Gabriel's lair makes it hard to miss, though.

Then the flames finally die out and the barrier disappears, there's a nice corridor linking the sewer and Gabriel's lair. Carter bites back a chuckle at the team's jaws on the floor. He does meet Avery's eyes, though, on the other side of the corridor, and rolls his own eyes. _Warlocks_. Avery snickers, clearly understanding him.

The group cautiously pads inside. There's water on the ground, which is an interesting choice, but it's flowing so at least there's no muck. The butterfly garden, and Emilie, are up on a platform in the center of the room, connected by a metal catwalk to a glass elevator that heads up into the ceiling. That leads into the house, and it's where Gabriel will come from.

The unnecessarily dramatic platform means they have to climb, but that's no issue for keepers and casters. Gerard just creates platforms with magic that they walk up like a staircase. That's the caster's escape route, too, so they need to keep an eye on where the platforms are. Hardened air isn't the easiest thing to spot in a rush, and it'd be dangerous to take a tumble down those steps.

"Your turn, it seems, Mlle. Couffaine." Gerard says with a bow, guiding Juleka closer to Emilie's body. It's creepy, if Carter is honest. She's in a padded pod, like some sort of coffin. Carter can't see any movement at all to indicate life, and when he focuses on the magic the whole contraption, body, pod, and all, is eerily blank. Even the dead have more activity than that, if only from the decomposition. Altogether, it's deeply unsettling.

But Carter doesn't focus on that. He can't, because Chat Noir's breath catches in his throat and his steps falter. Avery is already on it, taking just a moment to put his hand on Chat's shoulder, to ground him, before leaving the group to take up his position near the elevator. That's all Chat needs, really. That, and a long look at his mother's spirit.

"Madame Agreste." Juleka's voice is hardly audible, but in this lair no one is making much noise, anyway. There's only the gentle trickle of water and the quiet hum of machines to distract from her words. "May I cast on you?" Carter touches Ladybug's shoulder. Though she isn't related to the Agrestes, she does care deeply for Adrien. It's no surprise that seeing his mother like this makes her freeze up for a moment like it does him. She casts him a single grateful look, for drawing her out of her thoughts, and then shifts her determined gaze back onto Juleka and Emilie.

"It would be a… full necromantic stitching and magical dilation." Juleka's words are robotic, like Luka's were when he cast the memory spell, and Carter knows it's because she's using terminology that's she's not used to, and she's still uncomfortable with anything classifying as "necromancy" so she's just trying to remember the right thing to say. Still, Carter is proud that his lessons have taken hold already. He works more with Luka than Juleka, interpretation of this particular spell diagram not considered, but for her to go through the permissions in a place like this? Unprompted? After days of poring over the spell and its dangers alongside Emilie the whole time? Nearly brings a tear to his eye. He's taught them so well. Juleka is such a good student.

"Of course." Emilie says, strong and ready. "Do it."

As always when a spell is in progress, there's a shift in the atmosphere. It's the magic, of course, more tangible than normal and waiting, listening, yearning. Juleka's magic is quiet, though. Understated. It's a whisper on a windy day. An inchworm climbing a blade of grass. It's easy to miss, as spelling goes, but there is a sharpness to it, too. A hint of ozone.

Emilie, the spirit Emilie, steps through the glass of the chamber her body is in and lays down inside, joining her body in space. She lays there, eyes closed, just slightly unaligned with her body, until there's a shift in her. Her spirit and body align perfectly, so only one image of her remains, and things remain quiet, with Juleka's magic tense in the air, until finally the sting of ozone fades, the quiet tension of the magic relaxes, and Juleka murmurs. "I'm finished. Did it work?"

"Don't have time to double check." Ladybug says. "If it did, Gabriel will be rushing down here any moment. You three get going. Chat Noir, Polar Bear. To our positions. Now."

"Right away, Boss." Carter says. As he ushers Juleka and Luka towards Gerard's stairs, he leans close to them and murmurs. "You did good. It'll work. Remember, she won't wake up until we fix the peafowl, but trust that your spell did what you wanted it to. Her spirit's definitely in her body, and it's not leaving anytime soon, so you have nothing more to worry about. Alright? You did your part."

Juleka nods silently, and her brother smiles at him, and together they duck back into the burned-out corridor and into the sewer. Gerard bows with a flourish and covers the opening with an illusion spell, a real simple one, easy to see through if you know it's there, which works to their advantage. The keepers don't want to lose track of their escape route, after all, and Avery's the only one who can just walk through the walls.

Carter turns back to the platform, circles around it, and just as he hears the elevator across the room start moving, he leaps into the air, catches the edge of the platform, situates his discus under his feet, and freezes it in place.

Carter's power allows him to stop all forces acting on an object. It freezes that object in place and renders it immovable. No force applied to it will do anything at all, so nothing can shift it from where he freezes it, not even himself without undoing the magic. That means that, when Carter uses his power on his discus like this, he can make his own little platform to stand on. Here, he crouches just under the lip of the platform, directly behind Emilie. Easily out of view of Gabriel, but close enough that he can get to the thick of things with a single jump.

Avery is behind Gabriel, hiding half in the wall, and Ladybug and Chat Noir are on the ceiling. The hook has been baited, and Gabriel is nibbling, but for the surprise to be effective they can't reel in too soon. They have to wait for the bite.

Gabriel, looking fittingly out of sorts, rushes out of the elevator and down the catwalk to the central platform. Avery stalks him, matching his steps as his focus remains exclusively on Emilie. Carter can only see their feet, through the bushes and around Emilie's chamber, but he knows Avery well enough to know how this is going down even without that.

Avery creeps up on his prey like a cat. He gathers himself, preparing to score victory in a single move. As Gabriel checks over Emilie's untouched body and the machinery that tells him her condition has changed, Avery wrinkles his nose, bites his lip, casts his gaze forward and back, always keeping both eyes open, judging distance, careful, composed, calculated. Then he leaps.

One step, two, silent, because his body has no tangible matter with which to cause sound, and then a dive. Arms outstretched, they pass directly through Gabriel's back. As his fingertips leave the space Gabriel's body occupies, they find their physical form once more. Directly behind the butterfly Miraculous at Gabriel's throat, pushing the pin away from Gabriel with the momentum from his dive.

But Gabriel is just fast enough, or just lucky enough, to turn right as Avery touches the Miraculous. Avery passes through him harmlessly, without nabbing the Miraculous, and rolls on the platform straight through the bushes and Emilie's chamber – he's incorporeal again, so he does no damage – to the very edge of the platform. His foot, landing only half on the surface, slips, but Carter catches it before Avery falls too far to catch his balance, supporting Avery's back foot with his hand as he crouches down under him.

"Who are you?" Gabriel demands. "What have you done with Emilie?"

Avery smirks. "I'm a ghost." He says teasingly. "And I did nothing to her."

"No… you're no ghost. You're using a Miraculous. I could feel it, if only for a moment. Nooroo, transform me!" There's a flash of light, and Avery shifts his back foot back onto solid ground. "Who are you? Gabriel asks again. "Why are you here? How did you find me?"

Avery smiles, more pleasant this time, and bows politely. "Otter." He says. "Keeper of the otter Miraculous of liminality, which is progeny of the butterfly Miraculous of transmission. Something you're clearly familiar with. And I know you won't believe me, so I'll just go ahead and tell you the truth. I'm here to return Emilie's spirit to her body, after it was separated by a broken Miraculous. The peafowl, if I'm not mistaken. You don't happen to have that lying around, do you? She won't wake up unless I repair it."

Hawk Moth growls loudly. "Lies! What do you know of Emilie's condition? The only cure for her is the wish!"

Avery openly laughs at that. "And you ask me what _I_ know of her condition? A fair bit more than you, clearly. The truth is, with her spirit back where it belongs and her body still healthy, relatively speaking, all she needs is for us to repair the peafowl and give her time."

"And you think I will trust a stranger who's broken into my home? You know nothing about what's happening here. But you've clearly learned too much about me already, so I'll have to silence you."

Again, Avery just laughs. "Catch me if you can." Carter hears Hawk Moth grunt, like he's attacking, and then Avery quip, "Oh, and do be careful. Until we fix the peafowl, your wife still needs that equipment, you know. I wouldn't go slashing around all willy-nilly."

There's another yell of exertion and far above, Carter sees Ladybug give him a nod. He jumps up into the air, gets his discus moving again by calling it to him, catches it, and then chucks it as hard as he can at the back of Hawk Moth's head.

It strikes true, throwing Hawk Moth face first into the dirt, and returns to Carter as he lands neatly by Avery's side. Avery takes advantage of the situation to kick Hawk Moth's sword off the platform as the two heroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir, fall down to land behind Hawk Moth.

They've got him unarmed and surrounded. Most importantly, they've got him rattled.

"Otter is telling you the truth, Hawk Moth. If you hand over your Miraculous, and the peafowl, we can wake up Emilie." Ladybug says. "We can end this peacefully."

"You think such a transparent trick will work on me?" Hawk Moth hisses.

"It's not a trick!" Chat Noir growls. "Otter can fix it! He just needs the peafowl Miraculous!"

"Well, the peafowl is all I need to wake up Emilie, though her recovery would go faster with a spellcaster working on her. Unfortunately, in an entirely unrelated issue, we can't allow you to keep the butterfly Miraculous, so really you got to hand over both. You understand." Avery says cheerily. "On the bright side, your wife is going to make a full recovery! So, there's that!"

Hawk Moth rants some about how the wish is his only hope and how he'll get all of their Miraculous and all that, but Carter is more focused on his movements than his words. He tries to escape, judging, probably correctly, that Chat Noir is the weakest link in their circle, and attacks him. Still, even if Chat is the weakest link here because of his torn emotions, that doesn't mean he's not going to put up a fight.

He neatly sidesteps Gabriel's lunge and trips him up with his staff, catching his foot and smacking the backside of his head for good measure. Idly, Carter wonders if maybe Chat Noir enjoys that hit. Carter certainly wouldn't blame him.

And Carter has to admit, Gabriel isn't an incompetent fighter. Even in the state he's in, he holds his own for a moment. But the fact is that he's facing four opponents, not one, and all of those opponents have their own form of martial training. The truth is, with his weapon removed from the equation, Carter and Avery barely have to do a thing. Ladybug and Chat Noir handle him with flying colors. And tied up on the ground, there's nothing more Hawk Moth can do. Struggling is futile, raving his delusions is even more so.

Avery pats him on the head. "We know more than you." He says. "Shut up and let us do our jobs."

Carter chuckles. Avery can be mean sometimes, especially when he's transformed with Iinar. Only to people who deserve it though. It's cute. "Ladybug." Carter says. "You've got the honors."

Ladybug sighs, shaking her head. Looking at Hawk Moth, her eyes hold such sadness. Such pity. Carter just shakes his head. She's too good for Hawk Moth, honestly. Feeling pity for him. So, he was doing it to wake up his wife, big whoop. Cool motive, still terrorism. Hawk Moth deserves no pity. "It didn't have to be this way, you know." She says. "If you had just asked for help, we could have solved all of this without fighting."

That's only technically true, since though the guardian could repair the peafowl Miraculous, he has no knowledge of the spellwork required to stitch Emilie back into her body. Not to mention they would have to figure out that her spirit was separated in the first place, find her as Anais, convince her of the truth of what happened, and then find a caster capable of doing the spellwork. The Couffaines are here, of course, but they could only accomplish what they did with tutelage, and although similar spells exist, the ones they had to use to pull this off were adapted specifically to work on spirits, and more specifically to Emilie in particular. The memory spell might have been avoided, but the necromantic stitching is something only very few spellscribes can conjure up. Sewing a spirit into a body is not totally unprecedented, but sewing one into a living body? And ensuring that body and spirit's survival and compatibility? That's new ground. The guardian would have needed to reach out to Carter, and by extension Todd, and Carter doubts the guardian would have been willing to do that.

Maybe that's just the horrible impression he has of the man, though. It's certainly possible he would have.

Ladybug takes Hawk Moth's Miraculous from him, ending his transformation. With the Miraculous in her hand, she stares sadly at Nooroo and shakes her head. Wordlessly, she takes Nooroo close and hugs him tight.

"Howdy there, Nooroo." Avery says with a wave. "Iinar told me to say hi."

Nooroo separates from Ladybug to approach Avery. "I have not had the pleasure of meeting Iinar." Nooroo says carefully. "But it is nice to meet their master."

"Friend." Avery corrects quickly. "Iinar's my friend. And I don't order it around." He shares a look with Carter, and then adds, "No matter how much easier that'd make our lives."

"Ah." Nooroo says. "I… see. I'm glad Iinar has found a mas- ah, a f-friend, who cares."

"Caring is my responsibility as a keeper." Avery says. "Plus, it's fun to be around. I'm glad for its company."

"Oh. I'm… glad."

As they talk, Carter messages Gerard that they've got the Miraculous, and he knows that Gerard takes the Couffaines away and calls the police. As per prior agreement with Ladybug, Carter also messages Alya Césaire, and he's sure she calls the police as well, and is quick on her way over.

"We're going to use Polar Bear's power to stop you from moving, Monsieur Agreste. As a precaution. If you have anything to say to us before the police arrive, say it now." Ladybug says.

Gabriel, beaten and knowing it, hangs his head. "I… no longer have any option but to hope that you are telling the truth. Revive Emilie. That's all I ask. Please."

"We will." Ladybug says. "I promise, Emilie will be just fine."

"Forgive my skepticism, but… if you really met Emilie's spirit… did you speak to her?"

"Yes. We did. That's how we found you. She told us that you used to keep the Miraculous in a safe behind a portrait in your study. Is the peafowl still there?"

For the first time, Gabriel's eyes shine with hope. "Yes! It's there! For you to know that… you have to be telling the truth. Emilie will be okay…"

Chat Noir sucks in a deep breath, though it's visibly difficult for him. "Yes, she will. She'll be here for your son, too."

"She will be better for him than I." Gabriel says. "I always knew that. So long as she wakes again, it doesn't matter if I'm here or in jail. Not for Adrien, at least. I will miss them, but this is the best outcome left to us."

Chat Noir backs away, ducking his head. No one says anything more for a few beats, so Carter hauls Gabriel to his feet. "Well then. Sorry about this, but I'm sure you understand we can't trust you to behave. Fair warning, it can be frightening to not be able to move."

"I am not afraid." Gabriel says.

Carter shrugs. "I warned you. Three. Two. One." Carter pushes his magic into Gabriel freezing him in place. "Alrighty. Who wants to go get the peafowl before this place becomes a crime scene, huh?"

"I'll do it." Avery says, raising his hand. "I'll end up with it, anyway. Ladybug, Chat Noir, you should come up and greet the police when they get here. First, though, any chance that magic of yours can fix the hole in the wall? Police won't be happy to find that."

Ladybug chuckles and nods. "I'll handle it." With a toss of her yo-yo and a swarm of magic, Gerard's illusory wall is replaced with the real thing. Nothing else was actually damaged, save for a few bushes, thankfully, so there isn't much more for her magic to do.

As the three of them rise in the elevator, Carter sits down in the grass, twiddling his thumbs. He trusts his magic, of course, but it's only wise to stay behind to keep an eye on things. Just in case. Luckily, it's not long before Avery rejoins him and the two start conversing about how to approach repairing the peafowl Miraculous. According to the grimoire, soaking it in a specific potion should make it more ready to safely change, then they can repair it, and they've been examining the theory and find it sound. The only thing left to do is examine the Miraculous itself and confirm exactly what the damage is. To ensure they're using the proper repair method, and for their own records.

Miraculous are tough little things. There are very few records of them ever being damaged like this one is, including the grimoire that holds the repair formula. It's important to record everything they can, to help future keepers understand anything they may encounter. It's what they do, after all.

"I'll start writing up a report for our records when we get home, too. If you could get together the ingredients we were thinking of, that'd help me out a lot. That dumb book has the most ridiculous recipes, and half that stuff isn't exactly in our cupboard. Up to you if you want to risk substitutions, though. I maintain that they have the same magical properties, so there's no reason they shouldn't work, but repairing a Miraculous may not be the right time to experiment."

Carter chuckles. "You, my love, are clever as the devil." With a nudge of his shoulder, Carter adds, "And twice as pretty." Avery rolls his eyes, but Carter feels pride bubble up in his chest when he notices that Avery's cheeks tinge pink. "If you say it's going to work, it's going to work. No need to go out of our way for seahorse dung or whatever dumb stuff that book says."

Avery laughs. "Mind the audience, _mein Lieber_." He gestures to Gabriel, still immobile. "You're such a sap. But I love you."

"I love you, too. And don't worry, I _will_ triple check the substitutions before we try anything. I'm not _that_ much of a sap."

"Good."

"Oh! But I haven't told you how great you were today. You know, I could see it on his face; Chat Noir thinks you're just _so cool_." Carter winks playfully before adding, quieter. "I do, too. The ghost thing never gets old."

Avery groans. "It's so dorky. I'm still mad you got me saying that all the time."

"Dorky maybe, but you're so cool regardless you can pull it off. Not to mention beautiful."

Avery chuckles, shaking his head. With a hand playfully ruffling Carter's hair, he says, "Save it for tonight, love."

The implications of that statement bring a familiar warmth to Carter's cheeks. He gasps in mock offense. "Otter! Mind the audience!"

Avery giggles. "_I_ said that about the recipe. He deserves worse than having to watch us flirt. Let him suffer."

"Ahaha, you really are mean sometimes."

"I'm spiteful. Never mean."

"Hm. Suppose I can't argue with that."

It's not too much longer until the elevator kicks into gear once more and Ladybug is riding down alongside a police officer. When the officer asks, Carter unfreezes Gabriel.

And as far as Hawk Moth's story? His reign? That's all she wrote, really. The officer is kind and friendly but serious – perhaps even a bit uptight. Carter can admit he's not all that different, with how he gets on his students cases about formalities and rules most of the community takes for granted. Oh, and _details_. How many times does he have to remind them to triple check their clauses? Quadruple for their matrices! Granted, Carter doesn't _actually_ expect them to define and redefine every phrase in every spell they cast. The point of being so hard on them about it is to build good habits so they get used to checking their work before they start casting. Plus, repetition makes everything stick better. The more often those kids check that their clauses or ingredients do what they're trying to use them for, the less they'll have to think when they need those same ingredients in the future. And the less they'll accidentally reach for an ingredient they don't need. One that might cause problems.

But Hawk Moth. He's taken away in cuffs, and there's little more to say. The officer is flabbergasted to find the lair under the mansion, and is very concerned for Emilie, but arrangements are quickly made. She'll stay here until a more qualified medical transport arrives, then she'll be moved to a hospital. The house will need to be searched, Adrien found and taken care of, the works. A lot of legal problems, of which, unfortunately, none are new to Carter. Ladybug looks a bit overwhelmed as they go over everything, but she handles it with aplomb.

The press is outside of the house before Carter even makes it to the exit. This, even he isn't used to. He's used to quiet thanks. One on one, through gestures, gifts, words. Sometimes there are tears. He's used to families inviting him into their homes, cooking for him, accepting him as thanks. He's used to the sparkle in kids' eyes as they look up at him, to wonder and awe at the knowledge he holds and the way he speaks. He's even used to anger and hate and spite and jealousy, to names and, on rare occasions, attacks. "Self-righteous" he is for talking as an authority on magic when he himself is non-magical. "Arrogant" for thinking he knows more than someone living their magic when he can only study and observe. And he is those things, too, sometimes. Arrogance and pride are not unknown to Carter.

But this? Flashing camera lights and reporters talking over each other for his attention? He's never encountered this before. His work always has been, and in the future most likely always will be, behind the scenes. Supporting those who are _really_ the center of attention. And never with magic so open as this.

At least they're mostly focused on Ladybug. She's more accustomed to this sort of thing. Chat Noir, too.

"Where you reckon you want us, Boss?" Carter asks casually, wondering if he should stick around for what may be a press address on the takedown of Hawk Moth, or if he should make himself scarce and get started on the next important thing.

Ladybug raises her brow at him. "Stick close for now. They just want a few pictures. We'll make an official statement later, after we talk to the mayor. Will you join us for that, too?"

Carter looks to Avery. Neither of them are fans of the spotlight, really. Nor fancy events like some press conference. But if it's to support their students? "If you want us there." Carter says. "It's your moment."

Ladybug shakes her head. "We never would have done this without you two. It's all of ours."

"Naw, we're just here to support you. Always have been. This is your operation."

"Ladybug's right." Chat Noir says, smiling painfully. "This is a happy moment. You're part of it, too."

Carter sighs and shakes his head. "If you say so."

They hang around long enough for the press to get their pictures, and Ladybug talks briefly with Alya only, and then they all take off.

It doesn't much surprise Carter when Chat Noir lands inside their apartment, not much longer after he and Avery arrive themselves. No doubt the police are scrambling to find him, so Carter suspects they ought to move quickly on deciding what to do.

Still, patience is a virtue. He lets Avery sit down with Chat and goes to put on some tea. Once he has time to cool down and process, he walks home himself. As Adrien. Lets everyone see him walk up to the house, makes a show of his shock and confusion as to what's happening, lets himself get whisked away by the police. The officer on the scene says explicitly that no one believes Adrien had anything to do with Hawk Moth, but they have to talk to him regardless. That, and they have to figure out what he's going to do with his mother hospitalized and his father in jail.

Without any documentation linking them to Adrien, Carter and Avery are in no place to step in there, but before they gear up to call their favorite graphics wizard to forge something, Gerard shows up almost out of nowhere ranting casually about Adrien's bodyguard agreeing to be a temporary guardian, just until Emilie wakes up – and no he's not worried about Emilie not waking up, don't be absurd. He'll take the boy in himself if something happens to her – and how the quiet man – brooding, very charming, don't you think? Mysterious and suave like an ol- where was he? Oh, yes, the bodyguard has already agreed to the arrangements. Yes, he's taken the liberty of arranging it himself. Did so as soon as he heard of Gabriel's unfortunate side gig. Couldn't in good conscience leave a boy like Adrien floundering like a flounder out of water, now, can he?

Eccentric millionaires can get away with a lot.

It's good he steps in to help, though. Hawk Moth is taken down, but there's still more work to do before Carter and Avery can go home. First and foremost, making sure that Adrien has a mother to look after him when they're gone.


	8. Apples

"Do you even know _why_ these things do what they do?" Avery scoffs. "How the hell do you think messing with alchemy is a good idea without even understanding your reagents' basic freaking properties?!"

The guardian's words don't come easily as he stumbles through a rebuttal. "I- well, I-"

"Listen, old man. We know more than you. Shut up and sit down." Avery shakes his head, rolling his eyes all the while. It's been a while since Carter has heard Avery sound as irritated as he does when he mutters. "A tear of joy. Oh, there'll be tears, alright."

Carter sighs. "Peace, _Bärchen_." He warns. "He never completed training. It's not his fault he never had an alchemy tutor. Remember, he can teach us a few things about the Miraculous."

"Don't have to like it. Or him."

"Never said you did. Just don't lose your patience."

"Ugh. You and your patience. I normally agree with you, but you have way too much of it for people who really don't deserve it."

"Excuse me." The guardian says. "I am still here!"

Avery just about twitches. "Unfortunately."

"I did what was necessary. And the wielders I chose are extraordinary. It was the right choice."

"It was the _easy_ choice." Avery snarls. The guardian flinches. "Don't you dare delude yourself into thinking what you did was _right_."

"Avery's right." Carter says. He's crouched down, measuring out one of the reagents into a beaker. "You're the guardian, and Arrel is progeny of your primary partner. You can't seriously tell me you didn't know I was active. You had other options, even if it was just to look for advice."

The guardian ducks his head. "Your Miraculous are not associated with the order of the guardians. You are… unfamiliar with the box, and outside my expertise."

"Expertise." Avery repeats, mocking. "So far you've been an expert in nothing, least of all decent judgement."

"So, you're a coward." Carter says. "And because you're a coward, you chose to throw two children, with no guidance, into a magical fight to save the city. Makes sense."

"It is not so simple as that."

"No, actually, it is. Avery and I deal with the unknown every day. It's literally our job to learn and know things, and every day we still learn something new. Even just here, we've never seen anything like Emilie before. We have no experience with the temple Miraculous, either. But _we_ didn't turn away and pawn the responsibility off on the first available _children_ who could do our jobs for us. You're a coward, old man. And because of that, you put children's lives at risk. Plain and simple."

"…The keeper of knowledge. Perhaps she can advise."

Carter has to put down the beaker in his hand for the force of his laughter. "If you think there's even a chance Gabby is taking your side on this, you're going to be very disappointed."

Avery grabs the beaker and pours the contents into another one, which contains solid reagents. "Let's just fix this thing and move on." He says, stirring. "Before I change my mind about leaving these Miraculous here."

Hearing the clear warning in Avery's voice, the guardian wisely closes his mouth.

With no ceremony, Avery pulls the peafowl Miraculous from his pocket and drops it into the cup with their solution. "Let it soak for at least a full twenty-four hours." He tells the guardian. "I'd go forty-eight to be safe, though. And keep yourself and the kwami away from it. We don't want unnecessary magical interference. Now, if you don't mind, sir guardian, we have students to tend to.

"Neither of you need to do anything you're not comfortable with." Carter says gently. In his living room, a familiar coterie has gathered. Ladybug and Chat Noir, Arrel and Iinar, Avery ever at his side, and Gerard, Luka, and Juleka, too. "This is ultimately your decision."

"We understand." Ladybug says. "It's time."

Carter nods respectfully. "If you're sure. It could just be you and Chat, if you wanted it that way."

"No. We know Luka and Juleka's secret. We trust them with ours. Right, kitty?"

Chat Noir enthusiastically agrees. "They deserve to be here. I want them to know."

Luka's gaze softens, not that it was hard to begin with. He already knows who Chat is, after all, but this time it's Chat's choice, not Emilie's. Carter and Avery never kept secret identities in the first place, but they can appreciate the magnitude of that kind of trust. It's touching.

With just a few words and a quiet moment, Ladybug and Chat Noir transform back into their everyday selves. Luka smiles, then ducks his head like he's intruding by watching. Juleka is the opposite, hiding her gaze until she risks a glance and gets caught, unable to pull her eyes away. Gerard is predictably off to the side, combing his fingers through his beard with his eyes brimming with mirth.

Adrien and Marinette themselves take a moment to stare, another to stare at the floor, and yet another to wrap each other up in a painful-looking embrace. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Marinette whispers.

Adrien sniffs, wiping away his tears, but he's smiling. "He deserved it. Mom'll be back soon, and I'll be okay. Don't worry."

"You know I'm never going to stop worrying."

Despite the moment, Avery quietly snickers. "That's why you like her so much." He whispers into Carter's ear. "She's you when you were her age."

Carter elbows Avery just a tad roughly. Nothing he can't handle easily. "That's a compliment."

"Did I say it wasn't?"

"Um, Monsieur Carter?" Carter's attention is quickly pulled from his boyfriend to his student at her quiet words. "What, uh, should we do now?"

"Well, that depends on what you want to do." Carter says. He looks over everyone in the room as he talks. "You know what we do over in America. You could take up a similar job here, now that you're not needed as heroes. You could also hang up your masks and live a normal life – as normal as it can be, anyway, and no, you don't have to give up the Miraculous entirely to do that. No one is stopping you from doing anything you want to.

"As for more immediate plans, if Juleka is willing, I'd recommend she go visit Emilie in the hospital when she can until Emilie wakes up. Her body is the real limit here, but her spirit has been separated for over a year. She'd recover quicker with regular dilation treatments. It's not necessary, she should be fine either way, but that may help things move quicker. Permissions obviously can't be asked, but Adrien is her next of kin and Juleka already has experience casting a dilation spell on Emilie with her direct consent, so she's the best option if that's the route we want to take."

Adrien looks over to Juleka hopefully. "If it'll help her." Juleka says quietly, nodding to Adrien.

"Thank you." He sniffs again. "You've done so much to help me already. Really, thank you so much." He turns his eyes to Luka. "Both of you."

"We're friends." Juleka says softly. "And this was important."

Carter lets them have their small moment before moving on. "The peafowl Miraculous is being primed for repair right now. It'll take a couple days before we can truly fix it, but the process is already underway. Avery is taking care of that, so you don't need to worry about it. Marinette, Avery will send you a copy of our record on the damage done to the peafowl and how we're fixing it, just in case something like this happens again. If you have any questions, you can ask either of us, as always."

"I'd appreciate that. It'll be good to know we won't have to worry about a damaged Miraculous like that."

"The grimoire that Gabriel had," Carter continues, "technically is the property of the temple guardians, but you are the leader here, boss. So, with your permission, I would like to entrust it to the librarians that watch over the keeper's library. I believe they are the most sensible people to keep that thing. You would still have Fu's copy of it, and once the librarians give you access, you could find it in the library at any time."

"It won't go to Master Fu?"

Carter chares a look with Avery. "We won't stop you from giving it to him, but he already has a copy and the librarians can better preserve it. He doesn't need the original book, and it's ultimately safer at the library. Your decision."

"I'll talk to Master Fu, but I think that sounds reasonable. I trust your judgement. Adrien?"

Adrien blinks for a moment, and then nods. "Sounds reasonable to me. I trust you, too."

"Thank you." He nods to her and continues. "Paris police will handle Gabriel. We are here to help out and teach you anything you need to know. We were thinking we'd start making plans to head back home after Emilie wakes up. We won't leave right away, since if Emilie accepts the peafowl Miraculous once more she'll need to be taught as well, but we'll start figuring out exactly when we'll leave around then. Hm, what else? Oh! Once we do go home, we'll of course be available through our phones if you have questions, but you're also welcome to sit in on our classes through video call if it's convenient for you. That goes for all of you." He looks pointedly to Luka and Juleka. "We do a whole schooling thing. We'll give you all the details soon so you can plan for it and think about whether you want to join or not. It'd be late for you guys, because of the time difference, but we think you'll find it useful. We go over a lot of the basics of magic. Practical magic, basic theory, reagents and their attributes, that sort of thing. It's intended to give our students the tools they need to explore their magic safely.

"You two in particular though could choose to step back from magic entirely." He eyes Marinette and Adrien. "You're not magic, so it's not impossible for you."

"I want to learn." Marinette says confidently.

"Me too." Adrien says. "We're too far in to back out now. I want to be like you guys! I want to help people."

Carter chuckles. "In that case, we're going to be seeing a lot of each other. We've got a lot to teach you. Not just about magic in general, but the Miraculous too. I'll say it now, and y'all are going to get tired of me saying it right quick but remember that your normal schooling takes priority. Never neglect your school studies for something we assign you, alright? Even if our assignment is more fun. We're not on a time limit." He lets each of the kids acknowledge his words before saying, "But that's more stuff for the future. Right now, I'm guessing you two have a lot to talk about, and sooner or later y'all are going to want to party. Hawk Moth's gone. No need to jump into lesson plans and the next great adventure. Enjoy your win. Alright?"

"Right." Marinette says, looking to Adrien.

"We will." Adrien says.

Carter gives them a 50/50 shot, if he's totally honest. Marinette and Adrien. After the reveal, Carter is half-certain that they'll end up dating. Sure, both of them took some lessons on their love lives from Carter and Avery's teachings, but even still it's hard to resist that mutual attraction they both so obviously feel. It's not even necessary, really. Carter believes they'll continue learning to curb their more toxic behaviors as they grow into themselves, even in a relationship. Especially if they have people who they can talk to about it.

But still, Carter is actually quite proud when Marinette quietly tells him that she's just not ready to date Adrien. "I don't think I'd be able to stop the worst of my more… well, toxic behavior. And, honestly, he was pretty pushy as Chat, and I know he knows better now, too, but I'm not sure he's ready for… _us_, either. We talked for a long time about it. We want to work on ourselves together, but dating isn't going to help us do that, so we're just friends for now."

"That sounds like a very reasonable decision." Carter says, unable to hide his smile. It's very mature of them both to recognize their readiness for something like that. "You'll get there, boss. Whether it's Adrien or someone else, you'll get to where you want to be, and you'll find someone to love."

Marinette nods. "You're right. Thanks, Carter."

There have been a few moments in Carter's life that he just doesn't know how to describe. Sometimes, when he's with a student like this, he'll get this strange feeling. It doesn't even really matter what the student is doing. Once, he was exasperated with a student not listening, another time a student read ahead and knew Carter's whole lesson before he started. Another teased Carter for lecturing when asked a simple question. This time, it's just a bright smile. The feeling is nostalgia and the sting of missing someone all wrapped up in exasperated disbelief of a strange role reversal because these moments make him realize that _he's_ the teacher now. They remind him of his time with his own teacher, of his antics and how she'd deal with him, and he wonders what she'd think of him if she could see him now.

It's hard to believe any teacher can stand up to her legacy, much less him. He wonders if he measures up. Wonders if he's really doing right by these kids, or at least as right as his own mentor did by him. No single person, possibly not even Avery, or Carter's mother, or even his sister, have been so fundamental to who Carter is now as his mentor was. In moments like these, he misses her _so _much.

It stings in his chest, but Carter's happy with what he is and what he's doing. For that alone, his mentor would be proud of him. That knowledge kind of hurts, too, but in a much sweeter way.

"Hey, boss." When he calls to her, Marinette snaps her head up to look at him. "I'm proud of you." She immediately flushes crimson and covers her face, which makes him laugh. "Come on." He stands up. "Adrien and Avery are probably already on their way. We should get to the mayor's thing. Don't want to be late."

"No, of course not." Marinette grins at him. "Thanks for the tea. Tikki, you ready?"

"Let's go, Marinette!" Tikki chirps.

The both of them transform and take off. Ladybug leaps and swings with her yo-yo, of course, but Carter enjoys simply free running. He's not used to doing so openly, at least not in costume, so that's a nice change of pace, but climbing, jumping, and rolling never really gets old. If he needs to go farther than he can jump, he can throw his discus and freeze it in the air to make a platform or handhold for him. He's been doing this long enough that he's _far_ beyond the power use restriction, after all.

He's not quite as fast as Ladybug, since swinging along is a much more efficient means of getting places, but she's kind enough to keep pace with him.

They hear the crowd before they see it, and when they peek over the edge of the mayor's hotel, they can see the huge swarming of people in the streets just outside. There are media trucks parked all around the block, even tents set up in some out-of-the-way areas. Ropes cordon off walking areas so people can still get through, notably the important folk invited to the press event.

Something like this is way outside of Carter's comfort zone. The idea of being publicly photographed in the suit at all is alarming to him, much less making the headlines. That's not even starting on the crowd itself. Carter's used to quiet, private events. Not this. "Let's go through the inside." Ladybug says, as if reading his thoughts. "We're basically just there to look pretty anyway, and it doesn't look like Chat or Otter is out here."

"Good call." Carter turns to the door leading inside the building, catching sight of Ladybug's expression on the way. "Aha, sorry. I'm not used to this kind of thing. Usually for us, public attention spells trouble, you know?"

"I understand." Ladybug says gently. "It can't be easy to hide like that."

"Easier than you'd think." Carter says. "We've never had to hide from magic folk, or each other. Just keep the transformations and other more obvious magic out of sight of muggles. Can be inconvenient, sometimes, but it's not hard." Carter chuckles. "Honestly, all my friends are part of the community, anyway."

Ladybug bites her lip and ducks her head. "Speaking of. My friends…"

"If you trust them, you don't _have_ to keep it hidden." Carter says. Her head snaps up. Carter supposes with so much emphasis on secrecy for her thus far, that isn't the answer she expects. "Alya already knows about magic, and everyone knows about the Miraculous now. You don't have to explain everything in detail, or anything, but if you don't want to hide being Ladybug, I don't see why you should. If that goes public, you'd have a lot of attention, though, so you have to think about if you want that or not."

"Really?"

"Really really." Carter nods. "Just use your judgement. Don't tell people you don't trust about the community, and if it's your classmates I'd talk to Juleka first, since she's community proper. Other than that, _your_ secrets are yours to share or hide as you like."

Ladybug is quiet for a long time. So long, in fact, that they're very nearly at the ground floor before she speaks up again. "I'll think about it."

"You've got all the time in the world, boss. No rush."

They exit the elevator to another crowd of people. It takes almost no time at all for them to be seen, and the press rushes to them to ask questions. Carter politely reminds them that they can ask all the questions they want when the event starts, but they can't start the event if they won't let them pass, so the crowd parts for the keepers to make their way to the stage.

"You're late." Avery whispers to him when he takes his place by his side.

"I'm never late." Carter says. "You're just always early."

Avery chuckles. "True."

The mayor approaches them, thanking them for their help with Hawk Moth, and takes his place at the podium to address the city. Carter just crosses his arms and tries to keep a polite smile on his face. It's not too difficult. He just has to focus on Ladybug and Chat, who're both glowing under the camera flashes and the appreciation of their city. Watching them, pride swells in his chest and it's not at all hard to smile.

Ladybug fields the majority of the questions, once it comes to that. Chat does his part, too. As Adrien, he has a lot of experience speaking for the press, so his input is valuable. And the city certainly has a lot of questions for them. Things like, what are they going to do now, without Hawk Moth to fight? "We'll be around." Ladybug says. "We might go running from time to time, and we're going to be available to help wherever we're needed. We're still not vigilantes, though, so moving onward we ask that everyone continue to go to the police to handle regular crime. Not having Hawk Moth around does _not_ mean we're turning our attention to everyday crime. We have an excellent police force who are more than capable of doing their jobs without our help."

What's happening to Hawk Moth's Miraculous? "We're going to be watching over it, along with our own Miraculous. We can promise you that it will never fall into the hands of evil again."

Now that Hawk Moth is defeated, will you reveal your identities? "Chat Noir and I still have to talk about how we'd like to handle this issue, so I can't make any promises just yet. Personally, I would rather not have the attention that would come with everyone knowing my real name. For privacy's sake. We'll keep you updated on that, but I hope everyone understands."

Are you and Chat Noir really dating? "No." Chat Noir answers. "Ladybug and I are just friends, and happily so."

Didn't you yourself say you were dating previously? "Yes, and that was a horrible thing of me to do. Ladybug was clear that she wasn't interested, something that was even on record in interviews, and I crossed the line more than a few times. I recognize what I did was wrong, and I'm working on making sure I never do that to anyone else. Frankly, I'm disappointed that the media supported me in that toxic behavior, and I hope that no one else is hurt because of someone thinking that's an appropriate way to treat someone you love. Especially not if they took me as an example."

"Chat Noir and I are good friends." Ladybug says. "And he's not the only one who needs to work on himself and his behavior before he's ready for a relationship. Now please stop asking. We shouldn't have to keep talking about this even now."

Are you saying you're bad role models? "We never set out to be role models." Chat Noir says. "We just did what we could to protect the city from Hawk Moth. And we're human just like you. We make mistakes, too. How I've been treating Ladybug is one of those. One that I'm doing everything I can to fix."

What can you tell us about the revelation of Hawk Moth being Gabriel Agreste? "No comment." Ladybug shrugs. "We don't know the man personally, only his actions as Hawk Moth. I expect his trial will say everything that needs to be said about him."

Do you think Adrien Agreste knew about his father's plans? "No, he didn't. We've talked to him, and if you don't trust our judgement, trust the police, who have also determined he has nothing to do with it. Adrien is innocent, and we will not tolerate anyone attacking him for his father's crimes."

Where did Polar Bear and Otter come from? How do you know each other? "They're our teachers." Ladybug says simply. Carter shares a proud grin with Avery. "They guided us when we needed help and taught us what we needed to know. Without them, we never would have been able to defeat Hawk Moth so quickly. I've said it in private, but at least once I'd like to take this chance and say it publicly. Polar Bear, Otter, thank you _so much_ for coming to help us. You've no idea what you being here means to us."

"Hear hear!" Chat Noir cheers. "You've taught me so much already. I owe you a lot."

Carter blushes at the attention and crosses his arms. He knows Avery won't be able to speak up in a situation like this, so he answers himself. "A good teacher can only open the door." He says. "You two are the ones who deserve the praise." It's something he's heard nearly word for word from his own teacher so many times it'll never leave his head. Every time he and Avery accomplished something, she'd tell them that. When he glances over, he see's Avery's soft smile and distant eyes, remembering her as well. "We're just honored to have been of help."

Polar Bear, will you and Otter stay like Ladybug and Chat Noir are? "Only for a while." He says. "We still have our lives to get back to back home." Carter smiles at the cameras, wondering if their students are watching this right now. It seems likely.

The conference goes on and on, everyone asking everything they can think of, even taking questions from the internet, but it eventually wraps up and Carter and Avery can _finally_ escape into the privacy of their temporary home. "That was exhausting." Avery complains. "Glad we never have to deal with that kind of stuff."

"I know, I know. But Marinette and Adrien really appreciated us being there. You could tell, right?"

Avery slowly smiles. "Yeah. I could." He takes Carter's face in his hands and gives him a gentle kiss. "You sounded just like our mentor out there, you know."

"Yeah, I heard it as soon as I said it." He chuckles. "But hey, that's a good thing. If we're half as good a teacher as she was, Marinette and Adrien will do just fine."

Avery snorts. "Lord, ain't that the truth." He sighs. "I miss her."

"Me too. She'd be proud of us, though."

"…Yeah, she would."

* * *

According to Marinette, school is interesting. She tells Alya that she's Ladybug, so those two are closer than ever without that secret hanging between them. Adrien likewise tells Nino, and so together they decide to open the secret between the four of them completely, but surprisingly those four aren't a core group in class even like they used to be.

Marinette and Adrien are friendly, of course, and they love each other, but they're still focused on improving themselves rather than their relationship with each other. It apparently takes some convincing to get Alya to accept that, but their previous conversation on the topic and both Chat's and Ladybug's scolding of the press at the conference tones back her drive to set them up. So, while Marinette and Alya are thick as thieves, Adrien is not so much a part of that group. More close acquaintances.

Instead, he hangs with Nino most of the time, and with his newfound free time without his father defining his schedule, he spends a lot of time at the hospital, visiting his mother. More often than not, Juleka joins him. That leads to an unlikely friendship between the two, and it's Carter's understanding that Juleka is essentially Adrien's best friend, next to Nino, of course. The two groups overlap a lot, especially with Alya and Nino's relationship tying them together, but they remain two distinct groups.

Avery manages to repair the peafowl Miraculous fully in just a few days, so it's waiting patiently in the Miracle box for Emilie to awaken. Adrien talks to Avery often, as well, but as ever Avery doesn't share the details of those conversations with Carter. If it's not necessary, they don't share things their students have told them in confidence, even with each other. Carter trusts Avery to look after Adrien. Carter has more than a few conversations with Marinette himself, anyway.

Juleka apparently talks to Avery, too. Carter thinks that's probably good for her. Avery knows intimately how tough social anxiety can be, and he's shy even without that, so he relates to her a lot more than Carter can. Carter wouldn't call himself an extrovert by any means, but he's never been shy. Likewise, Luka talks to Carter as well. As ever, Carter makes himself available to help with anything he can.

It goes on for a week and a half, until Avery receives a phone call from Adrien frantically trying to tell them that Emilie has woken up. Her recovery is slow, slower than expected, but as she remains stable all through the wait, that's a good thing. It means she's taking the time to heal.

There's a whole welcoming party in the hotel lobby when they arrive. Adrien's bodyguard and temporary guardian is there, of course, Marinette and her parents, Juleka, Luka, and Anarka. Nino and his parents as well as Alya and her elder sister. Gerard is there, too, and Britt and Julian. Many more of Adrien's classmates and their families. Anyone they know who's nearby and knows Emilie, and many who simply know Adrien and are here to support him. Adrien has clearly been thorough.

Adrien waves them on, though, saying that Emilie wants to speak to them. When they have the hospital's permission, Carter and Avery enter the room alone. "There you are." Emilie says sharply. "About time."

Carter chuckles, and Emilie quickly breaks into a smile. "Good to see you up." Carter says. "How do you feel?"

"Weak. But, I haven't been using my body for over a year, so… all things considered, I'm doing well, I think. That was something I wanted to ask you about, actually. You would know better than I would."

Avery furrows his brow as he looks her over. "You _look_ alright. Could put on some muscle, of course, but spiritually, you're fine. Only problem is the traces of Juleka's magic. The threading that kept your spirit inside until it settled in. Since you're not a spellcaster, it won't hurt you, but we should probably get those stitches removed before you work with Duusu. I don't see them being a problem, but better to be safe than sorry."

Emilie nods. "Understood. When can we do that?"

"Anytime. Your spirit is locked in like anyone else's so removing the stitching shouldn't hurt. That said, your body is still weak. Miraculous transformations aren't anywhere close to transfiguration, but they _do_ have a physical element to them. I wouldn't transform for a long while. Until your strength is back up. Because of that, there's no real rush to get the stitches removed. You shouldn't be transforming anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

"Hm. I see. But… you think I will recover?"

"That's a question for your doctor." Avery says honestly. "I can tell you confidently that your spirit is fine. If your body makes a full recovery, then you should be alright."

Emilie lets out a breath. "Thank you. That's… a relief to hear." They linger in silence for a moment before she beckons them closer. "Come here, please. Both of you." Carter and Avery take up positions on either side of her bed, and at her insistence get close enough for her to pull them into a hug. "Adrien caught me up on everything. Thank you for looking out for my son."

Carter chuckles. "Avery's the one who should be thanked. Adrien's taken quite a shine to him, so I don't do nearly as much work with him myself."

"A good teacher can only open the door." Avery says. "I haven't done anything except open the door for him. It's his choice to listen. And to think."

"You listened." Emilie says seriously. "You took him seriously and treated him with the respect he deserves. I know for you that doesn't mean much, but it means the world to him."

"I'll be sure to make myself a 'not an asshole' award." Avery says, curling his lip.

Emilie giggles, which sets the boys off, too. "Well, you're not wrong. Still, I had to thank you. You've done so much for my family, without even a thought of reward. We'll never be able to repay you."

Avery just shrugs. "It's our job. Our reward is the chance to watch our students grow into great people. That's more than enough."

Emilie smiles kindly. "You two really are something special. Paris, and my family especially, has been blessed to have you here." Heaving a great sigh, she adds, "Now, if only I could find the strength, I'd feed Gabriel his own ass, and then things can really be perfect."

Avery cackles, though Carter rolls his eyes. "It's good to have you back, Emilie." Carter says.


End file.
